All 2 Mark Garnier contributions to the Space Industry Act 2018

Read Bill Ministerial Extracts

Mon 15th Jan 2018
Space Industry Bill [Lords]
Commons Chamber

2nd reading: House of Commons
Tue 23rd Jan 2018
Space Industry Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)
Public Bill Committees

Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons

Space Industry Bill [Lords]

Mark Garnier Excerpts
2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 15th January 2018

(6 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Space Industry Act 2018 Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: HL Bill 73(a) Amendment for Third Reading (PDF, 49KB) - (27 Nov 2017)
Lord Johnson of Marylebone Portrait Joseph Johnson
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The Bill has been developed collaboratively with the support and involvement of all parties, and I am grateful for the constructive approach taken by the Labour party. My hon. Friend is absolutely right, however, to say that there are tremendous opportunities for British companies in the space sector. We have a market share of about 6.5% at the moment, but the Government’s ambition is to increase that 10% by 2030, and the Bill will play an important role in enabling us to take advantage of the great opportunities.

Mark Garnier Portrait Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)
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The Minister is being generous with his time. Having worked with him for the past two years on helping to develop this country’s space industry, I absolutely share his vision for how fantastic things can be for Great Britain. There are many technical details that can help us to achieve our target of 10% of the global space market, and one of those important details is the liability that space companies have on launches. We currently have unlimited liability, but were we to find a system whereby there could be limited liability on insuring spacecraft, that could bring a huge amount of space activity to this country.

Lord Johnson of Marylebone Portrait Joseph Johnson
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My hon. Friend raises an extremely important point that was the subject of considerable discussion when the Bill was in the other place, and we will return to it in detail in Committee. For the time being, I can say that we recognise that launch from the UK is an important new activity, and, given the risks involved, further work needs to be carried out on the appropriateness of capping either liability to Government or to third parties in prescribed circumstances. State aid issues must also be considered in relation to any such cap that we might want to introduce. However, we plan to announce a call for evidence on all issues relating to insurance and liabilities early this year following the Bill’s Royal Assent.

Space Industry Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)

Mark Garnier Excerpts
Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 23rd January 2018

(6 years, 2 months ago)

Public Bill Committees
Read Full debate Space Industry Act 2018 Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Public Bill Committee Amendments as at 23 January 2018 - (23 Jan 2018)
Mark Garnier Portrait Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)
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The Minister is being very helpful. One of the interesting points that lies behind some of the concerns is about who advises the Secretary of State that the intervention needs to be made in the first place. Will the Minister give a little more flavour of the process whereby advice is given that leads to an intervention order? That may give some comfort to the Opposition.