Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Government's policy paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: Future Partnership Paper, published on 6 September 2017, what discussions he has had with representatives of the Glasgow-based space sector on the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the future of that sector.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are committed to positive and productive engagement with UK space companies and want our companies and our universities to continue participating in key EU space programmes. There is regular contact with UKspace, the trade association of the UK space industry and the UK Government’s paper provides a basis for further discussion on the future partnership the UK wants to build with the EU. It considers areas where there are precedents for countries outside the EU to participate in pan-European programmes such as Galileo, Copernicus and Space Surveillance and Tracking.

Glasgow is recognised is home to award-wining companies such as Clyde Space, supplier of CubeSats and small satellite systems as well as The Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications (SoXSA) at the University of Strathclyde. Scotland is very much part of the UK space success which boasts growth averaging over 8% a year over the last decade, a turnover in excess of £11 billion a year and ambitious plans to achieve 10% of the global space market by 2030. We are committed to positive and productive engagement as we seek a deal that works for the entire United Kingdom.