Australian institutional investors view the UK as an attractive location for long-term capital, and they have already committed £71 billion into the UK economy since 2022. With Australia's superannuation funds projected to reach £4.1 trillion by 2035, there is a significant opportunity to deepen this relationship further. This Government signed an investment MoU with Australia to take advantage of that growth, providing the foundations for Australian pension investment in the UK to double to £99 billion by 2035.

The MoU commits both governments to identifying and reducing obstacles to cross-border investment. This work will be taken forward by both sides, building on existing forums such as the UK-Australia Joint Financial Regulatory Forum. The inaugural Forum took place on 24 September and aims to advance cooperation on financial regulatory matters. Further details of the discussions can be found in the Joint Statement.

The Government is also taking steps to address infrastructure constraints that can affect investment decisions, including through ongoing queue reforms to remove speculative projects and free up capacity for high-value investments. For the most strategically significant projects, the Industrial Strategy launched the Connections Accelerator Service, a joint DESNZ and Office for Investment (OfI) service providing bespoke grid access support, with a pilot launched at the end of 2025.

The Government will continue to work with Australian superannuation funds and other institutional investors to ensure the UK remains an attractive destination for long-term capital.

Australian institutional investors view the UK as an attractive location for long-term capital, and they have already committed £71 billion into the UK economy since 2022. With Australia's superannuation funds projected to reach £4.1 trillion by 2035, there is a significant opportunity to deepen this relationship further. This Government signed an investment MoU with Australia to take advantage of that growth, providing the foundations for Australian pension investment in the UK to double to £99 billion by 2035.

The MoU commits both governments to identifying and reducing obstacles to cross-border investment. This work will be taken forward by both sides, building on existing forums such as the UK-Australia Joint Financial Regulatory Forum. The inaugural Forum took place on 24 September and aims to advance cooperation on financial regulatory matters. Further details of the discussions can be found in the Joint Statement.

The Government is also taking steps to address infrastructure constraints that can affect investment decisions, including through ongoing queue reforms to remove speculative projects and free up capacity for high-value investments. For the most strategically significant projects, the Industrial Strategy launched the Connections Accelerator Service, a joint DESNZ and Office for Investment (OfI) service providing bespoke grid access support, with a pilot launched at the end of 2025.

The Government will continue to work with Australian superannuation funds and other institutional investors to ensure the UK remains an attractive destination for long-term capital.

The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy set out the Government's long-term plan for economic, housing and social infrastructure to drive growth. We recently published an update to the Infrastructure Pipeline. The Pipeline is designed to provide certainty to industry and investors, supply chains and contractors. The pipeline currently covers spending of over £250 billion of public finance and over £450 billion of investment from private or blended finance for infrastructure projects.

Government is supporting private infrastructure investment by working with pension funds, including Australian pension funds, who are already significant investors in UK infrastructure projects.

The UK’s Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements provide valuable cultural exchange opportunities for young people aged 18-30 (or 18-35 for some nationalities) to experience life in another country for up to two or three years.

Eligible foreign citizens, including those from Australia and New Zealand, who enter the UK through the YMS route have no recourse to public funds, nor are they able to bring dependants with them.

We have discussed and progressed UK small volume car manufacturers (SVMs) concerns at official and Ministerial level with Australia, including through dialogue under our UK-Australia FTA and via regulator‑to‑regulator discussions, all focused on improving outcomes for UK manufacturers. The UK has also engaged with Australia through the WTO, raising a Specific Trade Concern to highlight the impact of Australia’s vehicle emissions scheme on UK SVMs. We will continue to press for proportionate regulatory treatment and improved market access for UK exporters.

The Turing Scheme is a global, demand-led programme and does not ringfence funding for specific destinations. Providers design placements based on their students’ needs and apply for funding accordingly.

The overall Turing Scheme budget for the 2026/27 academic year and decisions on future years will be confirmed in due course

The UK has taken the positive step to join Erasmus+ in 2027. Erasmus+ is the EU’s flagship education exchange and partnerships programme and joining will open up world-class opportunities for learners, educators, young people and communities. We anticipate the first Erasmus+ placements will begin in the 2027/28 academic year.

As part of Erasmus+, grant holders in higher education can allocate up to 20% of project funding to support international mobilities to countries that are not associated with the Erasmus+ programme.

The AUKUS partnership, announced in March 2023, sets out a phased approach under Pillar 1 to deliver a trilateral programme of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs), including a rotational UK and US presence in the Indo-Pacific from as early as 2027. This pathway to Australia becoming “sovereign ready” for its own SSN capability is already being realised in practice, building on visits to Western Australia by HMS Anson and successive US submarines, with activity increasing in frequency and complexity.

AUKUS Pillar 1 cannot be realised without the essential personnel and expertise needed to design, build, operate, maintain and decommission SSNs, but it also offers an unprecedented opportunity to integrate and grow the submarine building workforce of all three partners. It will create thousands of jobs in all three countries, and we are confident that the UK’s world-leading facilities will continue to attract the very best personnel, with the Team Barrow and Team Plymouth initiatives further enhancing this.

Some movement is inevitable and reflects the benefits of global mobility. Our AUKUS partners respect the joint nature of this programme and the fact that through it we will develop more resilient skills bases in each country.

The department holds data on students at UK higher education (HE) providers who receive Turing Scheme funding for overseas placements. The department does not hold data on student domicile and figures therefore include international students. Students can undertake both study and work placements, and the following information reflects both the overall number of HE placements in each country, with the number of study placements in brackets.

In 2021/22, 2,467 students undertook placements in the United States (of which 2,138 were study placements), 938 in Canada (841 study placements), and 342 in Australia (313 study placements). Fewer than five students went to New Zealand and so these numbers are suppressed.

In 2022/23, 1,900 students went to the United States (1,277 study placements), 948 to Canada (860 study placements), 1,012 to Australia (863 study placements), and 79 to New Zealand (27 study placements).

In 2023/24, 1,610 students went to the United States (1,127 study placements), 700 to Canada (590 study placements), 983 to Australia (775 study placements), and 142 to New Zealand (74 study placements).

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister visited Australia in April 2026 to build critical policy and security links with state and regional authorities in Australia. This included defence visits for the AUKUS programme, and discussions with Ministers at both Federal and State level and with private sector stakeholders on support for British businesses, bolstering regional security and learnings about harnessing technology to modernise public services based on learnings from the Australian government their successes and challenges as pioneers in providing online government services. State-level meetings included understanding the context for the roll out of the New South Wales state digital ID pilot and visiting South Australia to highlight the extent of UK-Australian cooperation, focusing particularly on secure growth, including opportunities presented by the AUKUS programme.

On 27 March, the government published guidance on screen time for children aged 0 to 5 on the Best Start in Life website. The guidance is informed by an expert panel’s independent report on quantitative and qualitative research, including engagement with parents, carers and stakeholders, which also published on 27 March.

We have also launched our ‘You Won’t Know Until You Ask’ campaign, providing parents with practical advice on how to talk to their children about harmful online content.

The consultation on children’s digital wellbeing launched on 2 March looks at further measures to keep children safe online. It will run until 26 May, with the government reporting back in the summer. Later this year, we will publish guidance on screen time for parents of children aged 5 to 16, which will be informed by the consultation and a separate a call for evidence.

We are monitoring the policies of other countries, including Australia, and are working with counterparts to share learnings and best practice on screen time. Ministers from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will also be visiting Australia to understand their approach.