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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans in a generation to improve animal welfare and that is exactly what we will do. The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act and completely bans hare coursing. Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law. The Government has committed to a ban on trail hunting. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing and further announcements will be made in due course.

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.

The number of part time personnel who served in the Royal Irish Regiment Home Service Battalions from its formation on 1 July 1992 until August 2007 is shown below:

Notes:

• Figures recorded at 01 April of each year so data for 1992 is captured in the 1993 data.
• By April 2007 all part time personnel had been phased out.
• Figures have been rounded to 10.
• Figures are absolute.
• Figures may not match UK Data Service (UKDS), which is an archived statistical publication preserved on the National Archives web archive and is not revised when data quality improvements are made to the underlying data. Therefore, there may be small differences between the historic Royal Irish (Home Service) figures published in the UKDS archive and those provided in this response.

Electronic data is only held going back to 1984, prior to this the only information held is on the 1975 and 1980 strengths. This information can be found below.

The Ulster Defence Regiment Part Time Strength as at 1 April 1975, 1 April 1980 and from 1 April 1984 - 1 April 1992

Notes:

· Figures have been rounded to 10.

· Figures are absolute numbers.

Due to the ongoing legal process, it is not possible to provide a substantive comment on the case. The Ministry of Defence is reviewing the judgment in detail to understand its implications fully and a further update will be provided once that assessment is complete.

The Davies Group claims management contract requires Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to be reported quarterly. These reports are supplemented by regular fortnightly progress and performance meetings between Ministry of Defence officials and the Davies Group to discuss aspects of contract delivery and formulation of strategies for dealing with claims including the extremely high volumes of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss claims.

Ministry of Defence (MOD) Claims statistics are published annually. The next MOD common law compensation claims statistics will be published this summer.

Previously published Annual reports can be found at the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-compensation-claims-statistics