This summary of a larger report on the education and training needs of the distributive industry in England is intended to stimulate and assist the further education (FE) system in the provision and marketing of more education/training for the industry. Following a brief background to the project, the structure of, developments in, and major problems of the distributive industry are outlined in section II. Section III reviews vocational education and training provision for distribution. College-employer liaison, examining body-employer liaison, and developments in progress by the examining bodies are considered. Section IV discusses employer provision of training and training policy. It also includes a survey of short- and long-term training needs. Sections V and VI suggest how the concepts of competency-based training and modularization may better serve the industry. Section VII concludes by stressing the need for the development of a more coherent training policy for the industry. Appendixes include an example of a modular task-oriented framework, an analysis of current FE courses in distribution, a more detailed consideration of recurring training needs in the distributive industry, a glossary, and a bibliography. (YLB)