Question follow-through · 84971
Retail Trade: Employment
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what was the change in the number of jobs in the retail industry between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change.
About this written question
A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.
- Answering body
- Department for Business and Trade
- Tabled
- 24 Oct 2025
- Target answer date
- 28 Oct 2025
- Answer
- 3 Nov 2025 · 10 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
More questions by this MP on Economy and business
- Gig Economy: Undocumented Workers · 4 Nov 2025
- Unemployment: Young People · 8 Dec 2025
- Tickets: Sales · 20 Feb 2026
- Tickets: Sales · 20 Feb 2026
- Tickets: Sales · 18 Mar 2026
Shared topic keywords suggest a connection; they do not establish a follow-up.
Votes on this topic
- Draft Code of Practice on Electronic and Workplace Ballots for Statutory Trade Union Ballots · 15 Jul 2026
- Draft Trade Unions (Permissible Means of Voting) and Employment Rights (Unfair Dismissal) (Amendment) Order 2026 · 15 Jul 2026
- Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 5 · 1 Jul 2026
These Commons divisions share a topic label. The question did not necessarily lead to a vote.
Recorded timeline
24 Oct 2025
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what was the change in the number of jobs in the retail industry between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change.
28 Oct 2025
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
3 Nov 2025
Answer published
According to ONS data, between 2023-24 and 2024-25, retail employment fell by around 94,800 jobs (-3.3%), from 2.9 million to 2.8 million [1]. This continues a longer-term downward trend in retail employment seen since 2016.The decline reflects structural...
Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.
Later records
Possible follow-up questions
Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.
Gig Economy: Undocumented Workers
4 Nov 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with gig economy operators on ensuring consumer safety from people working illegally.
Unemployment: Young People
8 Dec 2025 · To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to reduce youth unemployment in the context of recent job losses in the hospitality sector.
Tickets: Sales
20 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department’s plan to ban for-profit ticket resale will apply to (a) tickets sold through peer-to-peer messaging platforms and (b) tickets sold through encrypted peer-to-peer messaging platf
Tickets: Sales
20 Feb 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of restricting ticket resales via peer-to-peer messaging applications on user privacy and encryption.
Tickets: Sales
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to figure of 2 of his Department's document entitled Analytical note on government response to resale of live events tickets consultation, published on 19 December 2025, what assessment
Tickets: Sales
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has used the additional enforcement powers for secondary ticketing under section 216 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on the use of bots to purchase tic