Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Rejected
Unclear roles and fragmented responsibility for space policy hinder sector growth
Recommendation
Responsibility for space policy and regulation is currently spread across multiple government departments, which leads to unclear roles. Companies within the sector are having to coordinate with multiple government 42 departments, often with limited communication or coordination between them. This is unnecessarily hindering progress within the sector. Despite the UK’s ambition to lead in launch, the lack of clearly defined roles in and around government seems a significant barrier to growth. While the Government has acknowledged this challenge and committed to a cross- governmental approach through the implementation of the Strategic Defence Review’s recommendation, urgent action is needed to turn this commitment into well-coordinated governance. A more streamlined and clearer structure is essential to provide industry the clarity and confidence it needs to excel. (Conclusion, Paragraph 102)
Government Response Summary
The government states it is committed to coordinated space activity through existing multi-departmental governance and ministerial forums, but rejects establishing a new specific Cabinet committee for space or publishing forum meeting details.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
• The Government remains committed to ensuring that space activity remains coordinated across all interested departments, with multiple levels of governance and lines of communication in place beyond the Cabinet itself. Ministers meet regularly as required to discuss space policy issues, including through meetings of a Space Ministerial Forum of relevant responsible ministers. • The Government has not committed to establishing a new specific Cabinet committee for space. The Prime Minister decides, on the advice of the Cabinet Secretary, the overall structure of the Cabinet committee system, including the creation of any new committees and their terms of reference. A list of the current committees, their terms of reference and the ministers who sit on them is available on gov.uk. Cabinet committees take collective decisions on behalf of Cabinet as relevant to their Terms of Reference. • It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, including how often they have met and who attended and their minutes, is not normally shared publicly. We also cannot commit to publishing the meeting schedules and minutes of the Space Ministerial Forum, to enable full and frank discussion of policy issues between ministers.