June was another great month for the IPT Fellowship programme, with three cross-party Industry Visits and a range of individual briefings and visits across various sectors over the course of the month. We take this time to look over the progress of our Fellows over the past month.

On Thursday 5 June, Darren Paffey MP continued his IPT Fellowship focusing in part on Financial Services with a visit to the Building Societies Association at their head office in the City. Through this visit he met with their CEO and got to better understand the role they play and importance of building societies to the sector and UK economy.

Then, on Thursday 12 June, the IPT took Richard Holden MP, Damian Hinds MP, and Lord Gilbert of Panteg on a visit to ‘Adland’, in partnership with the Advertising Association. The visit began at dentsu, a global growth and transformation partner specialising in marketing, technology, and consulting. Here, parliamentarians heard from senior colleagues about dentsu’s role in shaping brand narratives through advertising. The group then took a short walk to Bauer Media UK, where they were welcomed by CEO Simon Myciunka and Head of Commercial Marketing George Butler. The roundtable discussion explored Bauer’s journey and the evolving audio landscape, including the rise of online streaming and podcasts. Parliamentarians raised questions around the impact of emerging advertising legislation and its potential to restrict industry activity. The visit concluded with a tour of Bauer’s radio studios, where attendees had the opportunity to see live broadcasts in action.

A busy day for the IPT Fellowships team continued with another visit running at the same time to the Supreme Court. This cross-party group visit was attended by Sir Julian Smith MP, Ben Lake MP, Andy McDonald MP, Kim Johnson MP, Johanna Baxter MP, Richard Baker MP, Kevin Bonavia MP, Alice Macdonald MP, Phil Brickell MP, Pam Cox MP, and John Milne MP. During the visit, MPs got to tour the court rooms and hear about how they operate and their constitutional importance. They then heard from one of the Justices, Lady Rose, about her career, her role on the court and what can be done to improve diversity and access to the legal profession.

The following week, on 17 June, saw Wera Hobhouse MP have a briefing in Parliament with Airports UK to discuss their role and the work being done to decarbonise UK airports and the wider aviation sector. Meanwhile, Gregor Poynton MP met with Nationwide, again in Parliament, to discuss their priorities and the role they play within the Financial Services sector. Also, Dr Beccy Cooper MP visited HelloFresh at their London office. Here she got to better understand what they do and the role they play as well as tasting some of their new recipes and seeing their test kitchen.

Then, on 18 June, Peter Fortune MP continued his IPT Fellowship on Artificial Intelligence with a briefing from Cisco. Last year, Cisco launched a $1bn global investment fund to expand and develop secure, reliable and trustworthy AI solutions. Using AI, they are helping organisations enhance security, improve their infrastructure and streamline their communications.

Our third cross-party group visit in June saw us take a group of MPs to the Port of Dover. This visit was attended by Ruth Cadbury MP, Rebecca Smith MP, Olly Glover MP, Wera Hobhouse MP, Tony Vaughan MP, and Sean Woodcock MP. The visit began with a bird’s-eye view of the port from the famous White Cliffs, here MPs got to better visual their operations and the different sections that make up the port. We then moved to a roundtable discussion focusing on the use of technology at the port, how the decarbonisation agenda is being implemented and what the future holds for Dover. MPs also got to see the control room and how they are incorporating AI into their operations.

Our final Fellowship engagement took place on 24 June with Wera Hobhouse MP meeting with the CEO of the Energy Innovation Centre in Parliament. Through this meeting they discussed the work of the Innovation Centre in relation to new and exciting energy generation projects and the work they do with the academic world.

We would like to thank all the businesses and parliamentarians who have enabled IPT Fellowship visits to take place. We look forward to continuing our engagement with parliamentarians on Fellowship programmes in months to come.