Recommendation 1

Recent years have seen welcome, if only partially successful, attempts to bring more coherence to space activity both across Whitehall and within the Ministry of Defence. The creation of the National Space Council and the MoD’s Space Directorate were recognised by witnesses as being positive developments in this regard. As we came to the end of our inquiry, we were therefore both surprised and concerned to note that the Government has removed the National Space Council from the list of Cabinet Committees, and that the Space Directorate looks set to be disbanded. In its response to this report the Department must provide an explanation for these changes. It should set out what new governance arrangements have been put in place and why it believes they will be more effective at swiftly implementing the vision set out in the National and Defence Space Strategies.