Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ranil Jayawardena and Lord Johnson of Marylebone

Thursday 1st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ranil Jayawardena (North East Hampshire) (Con)]

2. What assessment he has made of the timescale required for the electrification of the Reading to Basingstoke line.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Joseph Johnson)]

The Secretary of State’s acceptance of the Hendy review in 2016 recognised the necessity of changes to the scope of Great Western electrification. Following completion of a feasibility assessment of the line between Reading and Basingstoke, it has been identified that electrification of that section is not required to deliver improvements to passengers.

[Mr Jayawardena]

Given my hon. Friend’s commendable plan to scrap all diesel-only trains from our tracks by 2040, would he consider extending Crossrail from Reading to Basingstoke, as an alternative to Great Western, to improve capacity into London from north Hampshire?

[Joseph Johnson]

The Department always welcomes suggestions from my hon. Friend. There are no current plans to extend the Crossrail route, and no assessment has yet been made of the amount or availability of any such scheme.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ranil Jayawardena and Lord Johnson of Marylebone

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to support growth in the UK space sector.

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Joseph Johnson)]

The UK has a world-leading space sector. A quarter of the world’s satellites are either built in the UK or have major components from the UK. At the last European Space Agency ministerial in 2016, the Government agreed €1.4 billion of new funding for space programmes, and we have recently introduced the Space Industry Bill, which will enable UK firms to participate in a sector worth £25 billion.

[Mr Jayawardena]

I thank the Minister for his very encouraging answer. The tender for the next stage of the ground control segment of the Galileo programme, in which the UK has a leadership role, is currently live, so will he make sure that the European Commission’s request for UK-based companies to clarify how they will repatriate activities to the EU does not undermine them in winning contracts?

[Joseph Johnson]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. British expertise has been absolutely fundamental to the development of the Galileo and Copernicus programmes. The “Collaboration on science and innovation” paper we published just last week made it clear that the UK would very much welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research and technology initiatives. 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.