Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the number of jobs that may be lost as a result of automation in industry over the next 10 years; and what steps the Government is taking to address the risk of such job losses.

The Department has not made a specific forecast of how many jobs will be lost (or how many will be created) over the next 10 years due to automation. However, officials across Government are exploring the implications for policy – including employment – of automation, as part of the Horizon Scanning Programme. Officials are also engaging with our international partners to ensure that we are aware of the most recent thinking about the potential impacts of automation.

The Government is taking action to provide individuals with the skills that will help prepare them for changes to the labour market. Activities include the new school computing curriculum, developing new apprenticeship standards, growing the apprenticeships programme, and recently announcing the Institute for Coding.