With a two-week parliament recess, April was a slightly quieter month for the IPT Fellowship Programme. Despite this, we successfully hosted two Industry Visits and conducted four individual visits and briefings. We take this opportunity to look back over the month.

On Wednesday 2 May, Wera Hobhouse MP began her IPT Fellowship with a briefing from OEUK in Parliament. This briefing gave Wera an overview of their role as a representative body for the sector, the work they are currently doing and what the future for the sector might look like.

On Monday 7 May, Gordon McKee MP continued his Fellowship in Technology with a briefing hosted by ADS Group. The briefing explored the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Aerospace, Defence, Security, and Space sectors - highlighting the major challenges AI presents, the problems it can help solve, the commercial opportunities available to ADS members through AI applications, and the initiatives ADS is undertaking in the AI space.Then, on Thursday 24 April, we were delighted to take a delegation of 11 parliamentarians to the Bank of England. The visit featured a series of presentations from executives from the Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Committee, the Monetary Policy Committee and the Director of Markets, highlighting the challenges the Bank faces and how it manages them and maintains its mission to promote the good of the people of the UK by maintaining monetary and financial stability. The group went on to tour the building, learning about the history of the Bank and its architecture.

The same day, Graeme Downie MP continued his Fellowship in Aerospace and Defence with a visit to Airbus’s central London office. They discussed Airbus’s operations across its more than 25 UK sites, the current challenges facing the Aerospace and Defence sector, and how Airbus is responding to these issues.

Tuesday 29 April saw Baroness Sater visit Kingfisher in East London. This visit involved the Baroness getting stuck in with volunteering projects and upcycling of furniture through their partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Wednesday 30 April was another busy day for the Fellowships Team with a cross-party group visit to IKEA, at their new flagship store on Oxford Street. This visit took place on the eve of opening day and parliamentarians got the chance to tour the store before it opened to the public. Through a presentation and Q&A attendees got to learn more about IKEA’s operations, their future plans and the work they are doing on affordability and sustainability.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the businesses who have supported the IPT Fellowship Programme, as well as the parliamentarians currently involved in IPT Fellowships and those who have joined us on Industry Visits. We look forward to continuing the Fellowship Programme in months to come.