Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to promote the space sector in Scotland.

The Department works closely with the Scottish authorities to promote the space sector in Scotland. Space companies and organisations in Scotland directly employed some 7,000 people in 2014/15, 18% of the UK’s total employees in space. In February 2018, the UK Space Agency, working with the European Space Agency, announced over £4m in investment in Spire Global to develop cutting-edge small satellite technology in Glasgow. The Space Industry Act 2018 has also received royal assent, which will boost plans to develop new space launch services in Scotland.

The UK Space Agency is also co-funding the Satellite Applications Catapult’s Scottish Centre of Excellence, which has a Scotland-wide remit to promote opportunities for increased awareness and uptake of Satellite Applications, broker partnerships and identify funding opportunities. It has also supported Space start-ups in the Tontine business incubator in Glasgow. In addition, the UK Space Agency’s Space for Smarter Government Programme is providing a training programme for Scottish Public sector organisations to help them to understand how space services can be used to deliver more efficient public services.