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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2018 to Question 162553, which Department will provide funding for the proposed £3-5 billion domestic satellite navigation system; and whether that funding will be taken from money that has already been allocated in the Budget.

The Government has made clear its wish to negotiate a continued deep participation in the Galileo programme. In May, my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister ordered that a GNSS taskforce deliver a detailed assessment of UK GNSS options in the event that we do not reach a satisfactory agreement on the Galileo programme to provide resilience to UK users as stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

No departmental funding has been allocated for the full GNSS capability and the scoping phase of work will need to be completed before any decision can be taken on whether to proceed.