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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the space industry on future development; and if he will make a statement.

I met with the Chair of the Space Sector Council in October to discuss future developments for the sector and we plan to meet again early in January. The Space sector published its ambitious ‘Prosperity from Space’ blueprint for accelerating innovation and growth in May, setting out how it would create 30,000 new high skill jobs across the UK.

We continue to provide strong support to the space sector with recent funding of £50 million to kick-start small satellite launch and sub-orbital flight from UK spaceports, £99 million for the National Satellite Test Facility in Harwell and £92 million to design a national alternative to the EU’s Galileo satellite system.