Supermarket giant Tesco has announced that it will pay any young person accepted onto a work experience placement, after growing criticism about the chain’s participation in a government workfare scheme.

The controversial scheme encourages those on Jobseekers Allowance to accept work experience roles at major UK companies, or risk losing their benefits. Critics have claimed that the scheme exploits young unemployed people, and that many companies will see it merely as an excuse to hire staff for free.

The criticism has caused many high profile chains, such as Waterstones and Sainsbury’s, to pull out of the scheme, but Tesco have pledged to provide 3000 work experience placements as part of the programme, of which 1500 places have already been filled.

Tesco in particular had faced a public backlash when it posted a job vacancy for a permanent night-shift worker in its Bury St. Edmonds branch, in exchange for the continued payment of the worker’s Jobseekers Allowance, plus the covering of expenses. However, the supermarket has since revised the terms of its new work experience scheme, which it has detailed in a new post on the Tesco website.

The post states that all future participants in the scheme will be the offered the choice of participating in the government work experience scheme, with the promise that their benefits be protected for the duration of the scheme, or a paid four-week placement with the guarantee of a permanent job at Tesco upon a successful completion of the placement.

Tesco UK CEO Richard Brasher said: “We know it is difficult for young people to give up benefits for a short-term placement with no permanent job at the end of it. So this guarantee that a job will be available provided the placement is completed satisfactorily, should be a major confidence boost for young people wanting to enter work on a permanent basis.”

Women’s clothing retailer Hobbs has announced plans to make a multi-million pound investment in its retail stores and online capabilities.

Following a successful six months for the brand, which saw a 10 per cent increase in sales and the company launching in 20 new countries around the world, Hobbs is now dedicating around £18million to boosting its in-store and online operations.

As part of the new investment, a brand new clothing line, Hobbs Invitation, is set to be launched in the coming months, with a formal launch in March and the clothing being made available in stores from April. Furthermore, the sister brands Hobbs London and NW3 by Hobbs will be further expanded, with stand-alone stores and a larger range of clothing on offer.

Around £6million was invested into the Hobbs ’11 Autumn/Winter collection, supporting the new lines in retail stores and on the websites, and the success of this is what Hobbs says has given them the confidence to plough even more investment into the brand.

Hobbs chairman Iain MacRitchie said: “This substantial brand investment is underpinned by all the fantastic customer feedback we have had over the last 18 months. The demand has exceeded our expectations, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, and shows the fantastic overseas potential for authentic contemporary British designer fashion.”

The Co-Operative Food retail chain has announced that it is to launch a brand new in-store magazine next month.

The new magazine will be produced twice a month, and will be available in a hard copy format, which will be free for customers to pick up in-store as they shop, as well as in a digital version which they can read online through the Co-Operative Food website.

Co-Operative Food say that the magazine will contain a wide range of meal ideas, from the easiest convenience meals that can be prepared in a flash, to the ideal recipes those who prefer to cook their meals from scratch with fresh ingredients.

The magazine will be produced by customer engagement specialists River, with the aim of creating a one million circulation for the magazine, which aside from being available in Co-Operative Food stores, will also be stocked in branches of other Co-Operative societies such as Midlands, Midcounties and Anglia Regional.

Helen Nunn, Co-Op Food’s head of marketing, said: “The Co-Operative Food magazine is a major step for us and a key element of our brand marketing programme to highlight our value proposition focused on delivering ‘Big Deals Within Easy Reach’.

“In-store magazines are proven to drive sales and our multi-channel approach will ensure maximum reach for our content by allowing us to communicate with our customers on a number of different levels.”

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has announced that it will be rolling out brand new labelling on its frozen food items, in a move that they claim will save up to £2billion of food from being needlessly thrown out.

Sainbury’s will be working in partnership with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to produce food labelling which advises freezing before the use by date rather than on the day of purchase.

Around 62% of UK consumers regularly freeze their foods in order to prolong their life, however, only around 21% had frozen food that was nearing its use by date during the week of the study. It is these figures that has lead to Sainsbury’s and WRAP collaborating on the new labels, which they hope will prevent overcautious consumers from throwing away over 800,000 tonnes of perfectly edible food every year.

Beth Hart, head of product technology for fresh and frozen at Sainsbury’s, said: “As a large UK retailer, we have a responsibility to minimise food waste where possible and this new labelling will certainly help us do that. As one customer pointed out to me while discussing the previous label, ‘how does the product know which day I purchased it on?’”

WRAP’s consumer food waste prevention manager Andrew Parry said: “Changing the guidance to freeze before the use by date is a welcome move. Now we can all look in our fridges and know that we can freeze most items which are about to go out of date and enjoy them at a later time. In doing so we can expect to  reduce the amount of out of date food we throw away, which will in turn save us all money.”

The Co-Operative Group has revealed that it has received some 64,000 online enquiries regarding places on its apprenticeship scheme.

The staggering number of enquiries comes as the Co-Operative Group looks to hire the latest round of recruits for its recently established Apprenticeship Academy.

With 4,800 retail outlets across the UK employing more than 106,000 people, the Co-Operative Group plan to recruit around 800 apprentices in 2012, almost double the number recruited last year when the £9million Apprenticeship Academy was launched in June.

The purpose of the Apprenticeship Academy is to offer young people “more than just a job”. The Academy will offer young people transferable skills and qualifications, as well as competitive salaries.

It is thought that the Co-Operative Group have established the Apprenticeship Academy with the aim of recruiting all employees under the age of 25 via the Academy in the future.

Co-Operative Group chief executive Peter Marks said: “As we are getting 80 enquiries for every position we have to offer it is clear there is a need for other businesses to step up to the plate. We believe businesses have a real responsibility to open doors for young people by giving them opportunities to gain new skills, knowledge and experience so that together we can build a strong and successful future for young people and our country.”

High street retailer Marks and Spencer has announced that, with the help of their customers, they have raised around £370,000 for Unicef  through the recycling of clothing hangers.

Since the launch of the scheme six months ago, M&S customers have recycled over 100 million hangers, by simply opting to not take the hanger home with them when they purchase clothing items from the store.

For every £1 raised through hanger recycling, M&S donates 50p to Unicef in order to fund a project that provides education, healthcare and clean water for children in the Mymensingh and Dhaka regions of Bangladesh.

Kate Bostock, executive director of clothing and home for M&S, said: “We’re delighted this scheme is working so well. It’s simple, but hugely effective. For every customer that doesn’t take a hanger, the environment benefits and one of the world’s leading charities benefits.

“It’s now up to us to say a big thank you to our customers and work on ways to make it even more engaging so we can raise more money and make a huge difference.”

David Bull, Executive Director of Unicef UK, also expressed his delight at the M&S scheme. He said: “Unicef UK is overwhelmed by the positive response from M&S customers who have really taken the Unicef partnership to their hearts. This is a very strong start to a partnership that we are very proud of.

“M&S customers tend to be green minded, but clearly the added incentive of being able to transform a child’s life, while you shop, is hugely motivating.”

Baby Mothercare has announced that it will be collaboraing with Jools Oliver on a range of children’s clothing and nursery accessories.

Author and wife of TV chef Jamie, Jools will be launching the collection later on in the year, with the products expected to arrive in Mothercare stores across the UK and internationally in August.

The mother-of-four will be designing a whole host of clothing and accessories aimed at babies, toddlers and children up to five years. The range will include clothing, bedding, nursery accessories and gift sets.

According to Mothercare, the Jools Oliver range will be eclectic, and will reflect her love of collectables that are as modern as they are nostalgic. It also emphasised that the Jools Oliver collection would be available at affordable prices.

Speaking about her new project, Oliver said: “I have such a passion for the design of children’s clothes so to have this opportunity to work for Mothercare is amazing. The entire collection has been lovingly put together and accessibly priced for parents.”

Mothercare executive chairman Alan Parker said: “For the past 50 years Mothercare has stood for a modern approach to traditional family values and we believe this complements all that Jools Oliver stands for.”

Research has found that lengthy queues for checkouts in retail stores is costing British businesses over 21 million potential customers every year.

Market research company YouGov conducted an online survey amongst UK adults to detemine whether long queues hindered retailers’ abilities to make sales, and how consumers thought retailers should go about reducing the amount of time spent queuing in-store.

The study found that 59 per cent of shoppers were not prepared to wait in a queue in order to make a purchase. Furthermore, when faced with a queue in store, 32 per cent said they would then turn to an online retailer, while 18 per cent would visit an alternative store.

When asked what they thought was causing the long queues, a massive 89 per cent of shopper placed the blame on retailers not hiring enough staff to handle the demand. Another explanation, according to 23 per cent of shoppers, was that various payment methods were too time-consuming.

YouGov retail consulting director Rob Cushen said: “This research shows that a significant number of shoppers turn their backs on a high street shop if the queues are too long. The problem for traditional bricks and mortar retailers is that these same people will then go online and once there, they prefer online specialists like Amazon.

“This is a huge lost opportunity for the high street. The solution is not to increase the number of staff to handle queues at peak times but the smart use of technology.”

High street health and beauty retailer Superdrug has announced that it will be recruiting 800 new apprentices throughout its network over the next 12 months.

The recruitment drive has been launched in support of National Apprenticeship Week, which has been organised by the National Apprenticeship Service and starts on 6th February. The aim of National Apprenticeship Week is to celebrate the talents of apprentices across the country, and how much value they offer to all level of employers.

Established in 2007, Superdrug’s apprenticeship scheme has so far welcomed over 700 apprentices, and give employees the opportunity to develop their personal skills and build up confidence, as well as gaining a nationally recognised qualification.

The programme will be open to all Superdrug employees who have worked at the company for more than three months, and work at least 16 hours a week, meaning workers can “learn while they earn”.

Superdrug HR Director Jo Mackie said: “Superdrug is a people business and we know our success depends on the skills of everyone who works for us. Our Team Academy training programme offers colleagues the confidence and skills they need to expand their learning and further their career.

“We’re delighted to continue to support apprenticeships and see the results of the training every day in our stores, head office and distribution centres.”

Toy retailer The Entertainer has raised over £100,000 from customer donations using an electronic charity box scheme.

Using the Pennies electronic charity box, customers have donated their “small change” from transactions made by credit or debit cards in-store, or through purchases made online, replacing the traditional penny boxes that were commonplace next to tills in shops and food outlets.

Through the Pennies scheme, over 350,000 individual donations have been made by The Entertainer customers, with a peak in the week before Christmas where over £13,000 was donated.

The majority of the funds raised by The Entertainer will be donated to four children’s hospitals; Liverpool’s Alder Hey Imagine Appeal, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, which fundraises for Bristol Children’s Hospital.

The rest of the money will be shared amongst ten charities covering a range of different causes, including cancer patients, the elderly and education.

The Entertainer is the first high street chain to adopt the scheme, and they found that over half of customers who were asked to donate chose to do so.

Gary Grant, managing director of The Entertainer, said: “People are inclined to be generous, and we have provided this very simple option for them to easily donate their small change. It has been amazing to see how those micro-donations add up to make a difference.

“Our tradtional charity boxes would generate less than £2000 a year so it has been tremendous to see the donations come in so quickly and easily with the electronic charity box.”

The Pennies electronic charity box scheme is currently being employed by a number of high profile chains, such as Go Outdoors, Domino’s Pizza and Zizzi restaurants, as well as The Entertainer.

CEO of The Pennies Foundation Alison Hutchinson said: “We have always known that pennies are powerful, but we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of The Entertainer’s customers. We are so pleased that they have embraced the micro-donations and are making a real difference to sick children’s lives.”