Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the reduction in retail sector apprenticeship starts between 2012 and 2017.

The retail framework had around 1,000 starts in 2017/18, with a further 8,300 on the new retail standards. Two of the largest supermarkets were involved in the design of these standards.

It is important to recognise that apprenticeships are paid jobs and can be subject to wider labour market and economic pressures. The impact of a number of companies closing down, online shopping and automation means that there has been a general decrease in recruitment within the retail sector.

In 2018, I hosted a roundtable with employers in the retail sector, including John Lewis and Greene King, to explore some of the challenges and opportunities for apprenticeships in retail, and we continue to work closely with employers to better understand these.

Earlier this year, I met with the British Retail Consortium, and I am in regular contact with ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the issue.