Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has provided to private space companies in each year since 2010; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the defence spending settlement on the funding available for that expenditure.

Information on annual spend to private space companies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

We will invest an additional £1.4 billion over 10 years on space to support the Integrated Review commitment to make the UK a meaningful space actor. We will support the growth of the UK commercial space sector, and ensure the UK has the capabilities to protect and defend our interests in a more congested and contested space domain.