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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 26 June, what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the statement “there is a possibility that the entirety of the investment is lost and no wider benefits accrued” in relation to the investment into OneWeb.

The Government carried out a detailed examination of the business which demonstrated a commercial case for investment.

The fact that we are investing alongside a private commercial investor indicates a rational commercial case for investing. The deal will support the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing of novel satellite technologies, whilst boosting UK manufacturing.