It has been another busy month for the IPT Fellowship programme, with several individual visits as well as two group visits taking place. In this blog, we look back at the engagements that took place in April.

On Thursday 2 April, Baroness Kidron continued her Fellowship on the practical applications of AI with a visit to BAE Systems’ Great Baddow site, a centre for advanced R&D with a focus on artificial intelligence. The visit gave Baroness Kidron an overview of BAE Systems’ Digital Intelligence work and their AI-enabled capabilities, followed by a series of field demonstrations including ARES and EDYTH.

On Wednesday 8 April, Lisa Smart MP continued her IPT Fellowship with a visit to the Co-operative Bank HQ in Manchester, who are part of the Coventry Building Society. Through this visit she got to meet with their apprenticeships team, their financial inclusion team and hear about they support businesses through their Commercial Banking arm. The visit concluded with an office tour, meeting with their customer service teams taking calls.

Then on Monday 13 April, Sonia Kumar MP visited Make UK at their London HQ. Through this discussion she heard about the importance of the UK manufacturing sector and learn about some of the key manufacturers within her constituency of Dudley.

The next day, Iqbal Mohamed MP began his IPT Fellowship with a briefing in Parliament from techUK. Through this discussion focussing in on Artificial Intelligence, he got to hear about some of the key players within the technology sector. The discussion included Iqbal airing some of his concerns around AI and consumer safety, as well as the opportunities AI can offer.

Thursday 16 April saw Daniel Zeichner MP continue his IPT Fellowship focussing on the Food and Drink sector with a visit to AB Foods. He visited British Sugar at their packaging facility in Bury St Edmunds; through a site tour he got to understand their operations and hear about their sugar production process.

On Monday 20 April, Chris Webb continued his Fellowship with a visit to the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) head office in London. The visit surrounded ATI’s role in supporting jobs and growth at aerospace companies across the UK, particularly their work with AI, and how relevant skills and future flight technology can benefit aerospace and the tourism industry for Blackpool.

Wednesday 22 April saw Baroness Sater complete her IPT Fellowship focusing on Employee Volunteering and CSR with a visit to AXA UK in London. Through this visit, Baroness Sater heard about their CSR and sustainability strategy, they discussed their 2025 volunteering review and their upcoming volunteering calendar for 2026. The visit concluded with the Baroness listening to and reading testimonials of employee’s experiences of volunteering. Later that day, Daniel Zeichner MP visited Tate & Lyle Sugars at their East London Refinery. He toured the site seeing the whole sugar cane refining process and the different stages it goes through.

Our first Industry Visit of April saw the IPT take a cross-party group of parliamentarians to London Stansted Airport, part of MAG. The visit began with a tour of the terminal and security processes, here they discussed the expansion and modernisation plans. MPs then went airside to see the runway and view the scale of the airport. The visit concluded with a tour of the airport college and a discussion around the challenges in the education system.  

Then, on Friday 24 April, Lauren Sullivan MP began her Fellowship in healthcare innovation and barriers to healthcare with a visit to AbbVie’s UK head office in Maidenhead. Lauren got to tour the facilities at Maidenhead, where AbbVie focusses on commercial and clinical development and its corporate functions, and learned about the treatments AbbVie has and is currently working on developing. Later that day Baggy Shanker MP visited JCB Powertrain a member of the SMMT. His visit focussed on the role they play in automotives and manufacturing through a walk around the factory floor. They also discussed hydrogen and showcased their Hydrogen test cells.

On Tuesday 28 April, Lisa Smart MP visited Vorboss at their London HQ to discuss their work on cybersecurity and connectivity. Through a simulation, Lisa got to see first hand how businesses respond to a cyber-attack. Meanwhile, Wera Hobhouse MP met with Drax in Parliament to discuss and learn about their work on battery storage, energy costs and EV's.

On Thursday 30 April, the IPT was delighted to take a delegation of MPs to BBC Studios. The group began with tours of the BBC Breakfast and News at One studios, before visiting the 5 Live studio, BBC Radio Manchester, North West Tonight, and BBC Sport, as well as sitting in on a live rehearsal by the BBC Philharmonic. They also heard from a range of senior voices across the BBC, including the BBC Executive Lead for Children and Education, who spoke about CBBC and CBeebies, as well as the CEO of MediaCityUK and the Head of BBC North of England, who discussed the impact of the Salford operation on Manchester’s creative economy.

We would like to thank our supporting organisations for helping to deliver another successful month of visits for the IPT Fellowship, as well as all the parliamentarians who took part. We look forward to continuing to bridge the gap between parliamentarians and industry through our Fellowship programmes in the months ahead.