Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Alun Cairns]

The hon. Gentleman ignores the hard data, which shows record numbers of people in employment and sharp falls in unemployment. I have met a whole host of international investors from the US, Qatar, Japan and elsewhere, and we are seeing significant foreign direct investment projects coming to the UK. That shows the great opportunities there are as we leave the European Union.

[Luke Graham (Ochil and South Perthshire) (Con)]

rose—

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Ind)]

rose—

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[The Prime Minister]

I have long championed the need for children with special needs to be able to be provided for in the setting that is most appropriate for them. For some that will be a mainstream school; for some it will be a special needs school. We have of course changed the national funding formula to make it a fairer distribution across the country, but, as I have said, I recognise the need to ensure that children with special needs are provided for in the most appropriate setting.

[Luke Graham (Ochil and South Perthshire) (Con)]

Q11. The establishment of a spaceport in Scotland will give the UK the capability to launch satellites from British soil for the first time ever. Considering the opportunities presented by space and aerospace, will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss more investment for Scotland, in particular the Kinross aerospace centre in my constituency that is being proposed as part of the Tay cities deal?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue; it is absolutely right of him to highlight the opportunities that our announcement on spaceports give us. We have awarded grants worth £31.5 million to enable satellites to be launched from UK soil for the first time, and that is worth a potential £3.8 billion over the next decade to the UK economy. This is the start of a new space age in the UK; it is a huge boost to our world-leading space sector, making the UK a one-stop shop for new satellite services. My hon. Friend has put a bid in for his own constituency in this regard, and I am sure my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary will be happy to meet him and discuss that.