Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to protect the UK aerospace sector.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Department provides strong support for the UK aerospace sector through the Aerospace Growth Partnership. We believe this has been successful in protecting the industry and supporting its growth. Since 2010, the UK aerospace industry has seen turnover grow from £23.7billion to £32billion; exports have increased from £18billion to £30billion; direct jobs have grown from 110,000 to 120,000, with indirect jobs up from 148,000 to 161,000; and, between 2010 and 2016, productivity growth in the sector was over five times more than in the economy as a whole. In addition we have created a more certain environment to drive increased investment in R&D, through a £1.95billion Government commitment over 13 years to 2026, matched by industry, to fund new R&D projects.
But we are not complacent and will continue to work with industry through the AGP to retain the UK's position as a leading aerospace nation.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to support the UK space industry during the negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have made it clear that we want our companies and our universities to continue participating in key EU space programmes.
Furthermore my Department has shown strong support for the UK space industry through the €1.4bn investment I made with the European Space Agency in December 2016. I have also announced an investment of £99m in a National Satellite Testing Facility at Harwell.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government is taking to increase representation of BME students in leading universities.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Prime Minister has a goal of increasing by 20% the number of BME students in higher education. In our new guidance to the Director of Fair Access, which we published on 11 February, we ask him to maximise the contribution of Access Agreements towards this ambition. The share of BME enrolments at UK institutions has already risen from just over 20% to 23% between 2009/10 and 2014/15. Entry rates for 18 year olds in each ethnic group increased in 2015, reaching the highest recorded values for each group. Between 2009 and 2015, the entry rate for young people in the Black ethnic group increased by over 40 percent proportionally.
Investment by the higher education sector through Access Agreements is expected to reach £746 million in 2016/17 up from £404 million in 2009/10.
The Government accepts that selective institutions already do much to widen participation. We also acknowledge the work that they already do. Nonetheless, we are convinced that more could and should be done. In our recent guidance to the Director of Fair Access, www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/11-02-2016-OFFA-Guidance.pdf we asked him to secure more progress. Institutions must use evidence and good practice to lever better results and there needs to be more innovation in this area. As the Director of Fair has also said, ‘it should not be beyond institutions themselves to find ways of making more progress.’