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 UK Space Agency's announcement on the development of a British Global Navigation Satellite System published on 2 May 2018, what contingency plans his Department has put in place in the event that the UK is denied access to data for satellite navigation.

The UK will continue to be able to access the US Global Positioning System (GPS) but a British system would also provide vital freedom to act independently, increase resilience and enhance UK and Allied operations in the global context.

A British system would be compatible with GPS, meaning that if either were subject to malicious attack, we could continue to provide crucial positioning information to the UK and her Allies.

The redundancy provided by having multiple systems of ground infrastructure, increased numbers of satellite constellations and multiple secure and open signals would greatly increase our resilience.