diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/Chunk.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/Chunk.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a87a44d55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/Chunk.java
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.batch.core.domain;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+
+/**
+ * A 'chunk' of items, that will be committed together. It is expected that a
+ * chunk may be serialized, especially if using a queue to dispatch chunks to
+ * various {@link ChunkProcessor}s.
+ * 
+ * @author Ben Hale
+ * @author Lucas Ward
+ */
+public class Chunk implements Serializable {
+
+	private final Long id;
+
+	private final List items;
+
+	public Chunk(Long id, List items) {
+		validateSerializable(items);
+		this.items = items;
+		this.id = id;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the list of items for this chunk.
+	 * 
+	 * @return items.
+	 */
+	public List getItems() {
+		return new ArrayList(items);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the chunk id.
+	 * 
+	 * @return id of this chunk.
+	 */
+	public Long getId() {
+		return id;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * In order for the whole chunk to be serializable, every item in the chunk
+	 * must be serializable.
+	 */
+	private void validateSerializable(List items) {
+		for (Iterator i = items.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
+			Assert.isInstanceOf(Serializable.class, i.next(), "All items in a chunk must be serialiable");
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ReadFailurePolicy.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ReadFailurePolicy.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..19ab021a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ReadFailurePolicy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2007 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.batch.core.domain;
+
+import org.springframework.batch.core.domain.StepExecution;
+
+/**
+ * Policy for determining whether or not reading should continue.
+ * 
+ * @author Lucas Ward
+ */
+public interface ReadFailurePolicy {
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns true or false, indicating whether or not reading should
+	 * continue for the current step execution with the given throwable.
+	 * 
+	 * @param ex throwable encountered while reading
+	 * @param stepExecution currently running execution
+	 * @return true if reading should continue, false otherwise.
+	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if t or stepExecution is null
+	 */
+	boolean shouldContinue(Exception ex, StepExecution stepExecution);
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/StepExecution.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/StepExecution.java
index b809b136a..e0afdd78f 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/StepExecution.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/StepExecution.java
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ public class StepExecution extends Entity {
 	private int commitCount = 0;
 
 	private int rollbackCount = 0;
+	
+	private int skipCount = 0;
+	
+	private int retryCount = 0;
 
 	private Date startTime = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis());
 
@@ -368,5 +372,25 @@ public class StepExecution extends Entity {
 	public void setTerminateOnly() {
 		this.terminateOnly = true;
 	}
+	
+	public void setSkipCount(int skipCount) {
+		this.skipCount = skipCount;
+	}
+	
+	public int getSkipCount() {
+		return skipCount;
+	}
+	
+	public void incrementSkipCount(){
+		skipCount++;
+	}
+	
+	public void setRetryCount(int retryCount) {
+		this.retryCount = retryCount;
+	}
+	
+	public int getRetryCount() {
+		return retryCount;
+	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ChunkTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ChunkTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0bc2b85c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/domain/ChunkTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.batch.core.domain;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * @author Lucas Ward
+ *
+ */
+public class ChunkTests extends TestCase {
+
+	List items;
+	Chunk chunk;
+	
+	protected void setUp() throws Exception {
+		super.setUp();
+		
+		items = new ArrayList();
+		items.add("1");
+		items.add("2");
+	}
+	
+	
+	public void testCreateChunk(){
+		
+		chunk = new Chunk(new Long(1), items);
+		assertEquals(items, chunk.getItems());
+	}
+	
+	public void testImmutability(){
+		
+		chunk = new Chunk(new Long(1), items);
+		List testItems = chunk.getItems();	
+		testItems.add("3");
+		assertEquals(2, chunk.getItems().size());
+	}
+}