Aviation: Hydrogen
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Over £7 million to fuel zero-emission flight across the UK, published on 23 July 2026, what assessment her Department has made of the expected economic return on the public funding awarded through the programme.
Answered by Department for Transport
Arrangements to evaluate the Zero Emission Flight Demonstrator through the life-span of the competition are being established and we intend to publish the final outputs of that evaluation.
In developing the competition proposal, the Department for Transport gave regard to the Value of Public R&D report published on 30 October 2025. That report showed that public R&D investments typically generate substantial long-term benefits, with every £1 of civil public spending on R&D delivering £8 in net economic benefits for the UK. The report may be found on the Gov.uk website.
Whilst quantifying R&D benefits can be challenging this benchmark supports our expectation that the competition will deliver economic, environmental and societal value.
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