Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the cost to the public purse was of her Department's expenditure on (a) space research and (b) promoting the commercialism of space research.

The Department for Science Innovation and Technology supports expenditure on space research as well as promoting the commercialisation of space research. The information is not available in the format requested as the Department’s spend cannot be accurately broken down into these two categories.

The UK Space Agency is the executive agency responsible for delivering the UK’s civil space programme. UKSA’s total budget, including earth observation, for the current spending review period is nearly two billion pounds.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) supports a diverse portfolio of research and innovation initiatives. Approximately £540m of the UKRI budget covered by the current spending review period includes research on space.