Gavin Robinson

Of the £975 million allocated to the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme between 2025/26 and 2029/30, £285 million has been committed so far. This funding is distributed across the Devolved Administrations as follows:

The Industrial Strategy announced ATI Programme funding of up to £2.3 billion over the next 10 years. With industry co-investment, this will result in nearly £3.8 billion of UK research activity—placing UK industry in a strong position to capitalise on growing demand for new technologies as the next generation of aircraft is developed.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) supports growth and increases the market for small brewers, distillers, and vintners by leveraging trade agreements, removing market entry barriers, and showcasing producers at global trade shows. We recently led a drinks trade mission to India and will support UK companies to participate in ProWein Dusseldorf in March 2025.

DBT's Export Academy launched a food and drink programme in October, which offers upskilling opportunities for emerging and experienced brewers, distillers and vinters looking to grow through exports. DBT also works closely with trade bodies in each sector to drive growth and signpost export opportunities.

The Budget confirmed £975m over 5 years to the Aerospace sector, which will be delivered through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme. UK based industry applications for R&D co-investment from the Programme enter a competitive process. Competition for funding is fierce and only the best projects are selected: those that offer real innovation, reduced emissions, and tangible UK economic benefits. As the Programme is industry led and competitive the budget is not pre-allocated to regions or devolved administrations.

The Government is committed to supporting non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. To facilitate this Minister Vallance hosted a roundtable on 14.05.25 with representatives from animal welfare organisations, and officials have worked with animal welfare charities throughout strategy development. Minister Vallance also met with the Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group on phasing out animal experiments in medical research and representatives from Animal Free Research on 01.04.25, with representatives from Lush UK on 15.05.25, and with representatives from the RSCPA on 26.11.24.

The Scheme for 2025 to 2026 will close on 31st March 2026 or once the £23 million budget has been reached, whichever is earlier. Funding after March 2026 will be considered as the Department works through the output of the Spending Review and Departmental business planning process.

My department has not undertaken an assessment of this specific topic, but has engaged extensively with other countries that operate extended producer responsibility schemes across the EU and across the world. Extended producer responsibility is an internationally recognised model to reduce packaging waste and improve recycling levels. The UK’s largest waste management companies have pledged a £10 billion investment in the UK’s reprocessing capacity, creating around 25,000 jobs on the back of the packaging reforms.

In autumn last year my department published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme on packaging producers as a whole including impact on CPI inflation and impact on consumers weekly expenditure, when the regulations were laid in parliament.

In autumn last year my department published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme on packaging producers as a whole including impact on CPI inflation and impact on consumers weekly expenditure, when the regulations were laid in parliament. This does not include an assessment of the impact on specific materials or sectors. However, my department has engaged extensively with the glass manufacturing sector to understand the impacts on them. This engagement will continue.

The Government is committed to taking steps to support the availability of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland after the end of 2025.

Regarding the botulism vaccines, the situation will not change. Veterinary surgeons can continue to access the vaccines after 31 December; in the same way they do now.

The Government considers the need for a close season for hares is justified more by animal welfare concerns than biodiversity and species conservation. In short, a close season should reduce the number of adult hares being shot in the breeding season, which runs from February to October, meaning that fewer leverets (infant hares) are left motherless and vulnerable to starvation and predation. A close season is also consistent with Natural England's advice on wildlife management that controlling species in their peak breeding season should be avoided unless genuinely essential and unavoidable. Defra Ministers therefore support the ambition to introduce a close season for hares in England and are considering how this can be brought forward.

Pilot training may be exempt from VAT when provided by an eligible body which meets certain conditions (for example, when provided by a government institution or certain regulated organisations), but otherwise will be subject to the standard rate. VAT-registered businesses paying for training will be able to recover any VAT they pay.

The Government currently has no plans to remove VAT on pilot flight training courses more broadly.

The Government is committed to making sure older people can live with the dignity and respect they deserve in retirement. The State Pension is the foundation of the support available to them. Over the course of this Parliament, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently projected to go up by around £1,900 based on the Office for Budget Responsibility's latest forecast.

The Government is also committed to keeping people’s taxes as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility, and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.

HMRC is committed to providing a good customer service for individuals affected by the McCloud remedy. It is working closely with individual pension schemes to ensure they and their members have the support they need. For police, HMRC has received 662 and processed 136. HMRC has 526 police force cases which have been submitted and are yet to be processed.

HMRC checks and processes the submissions based on the information provided and has 90 days in which to process a refund where applicable.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is strong and consistent leadership across policing and a pipeline of diverse and talented candidates for chief officer appointments. The College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme aims to open up access to a wide pool of officers, who have the skills, experience and potential to become chief officers, ready for substantive appointment to a chief officer role.

Neither the Home Office nor the College of Policing issues guidance to police forces on the specific number of candidates they should recommend to the Executive Leaders Programme. Recruitment is managed locally by individual police forces, following national guidelines and the application, assessment, and selection framework set by the College of Policing.

The Home Office does not collect data on the number of candidates attending and completing the Executive Leaders Programme.

The College of Policing has undertaken a review of the effectiveness of the Executive Leaders Programme, which was carried out in 2023-2024 on the first two cohorts. Based on the recommendations of the review, further improvements were communicated to forces and implemented in subsequent cohorts of the programme by the College of Policing.

Northern Ireland plays a vital role in defending the UK, from building the new Fleet Solid Support ships that will enable carrier group operations across the globe, through to manufacturing advanced weaponry used by our Armed Forces and allies, as demonstrated by the £1.6 billion contract with Thales the for Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM).

Defence and security requirements dictate the defence footprint in Northern Ireland and we review this regularly. More broadly we are working to launch a Defence Growth Deal that will invest in targeted interventions to support the defence industry in Northern Ireland.

On 27 March 2025, the Government announced a new taskforce to deliver thousands of homes on surplus public land, with Defence land becoming a ‘trailblazer’ for the new partnership approach to development. This is an opportunity for all parts of the country, helping meet the Government’s ambition for 1.5 million homes.

As part of this, the Defence Secretary has identified the long-term capacity on surplus Ministry of Defence (MOD) land for at least 100,000 homes. Trailblazer sites include a site in Ripon, which was transferred from MOD to Homes England to allow construction at Deverell Barracks to start within 12 months to expedite the delivery of 1,300 homes.

Over the past five years, the only UK support to Ireland has been Search and Rescue assistance provided on five occasions. There was no additional cost identified for this activity. We have not provided maritime support to Ireland.

Following the 2020 Integrated Review, Spending Reviews, and Future Soldier announcements, 32 of the sites earmarked for disposal under Better Defence Estate 2016 are awaiting disposal following completion of reprovision works.

Of the sites earmarked for disposal under Better Defence Estate 2016, 31 sites were released for alternative use between 2016 and 2025.

Since confirmation at Autumn Budget of the continuation of the Enhanced Investment Zone, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has worked in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive to drive forward the co-development of the design and delivery of the Enhanced Investment Zone. Further detail on the focus of the Enhanced Investment Zone will be confirmed later this year, following significant progress on developing proposals for the sectoral focus.