Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the UK's space-based (a) positioning, (b) navigation and (c) timing capabilities, in the context of encrypted and alerting services.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently have any UK space-based position, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities, nor any plans for a future space based PNT system. The MOD works closely with the National PNT Office, in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to develop proposals for the UK Government’s PNT capabilities as part of the cross-Government initiative, concerning future space-based and non-space-based PNT solutions.