Select committee: Defence Committee
Recommendation 8
Third Report - Defence Space: through adversity to the stars?
Published 19 Oct 2022
Paragraph 72
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee Space Defence All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Space Domain Awareness capabilities are rightly recognised by Government and stakeholders as being critical to safely operating in an increasingly contested and congested space environment. A cross-Government SDA strategy should be produced and implemented as soon as possible: the Department should confirm in its response to this report that work on this is already underway and should give a target date for its publication. A cross-Government SDA strategy should be produced and implemented as soon as possible: the Department should confirm in its response to this report that work on this is already underway and should give a target date for its publication.
From: Defence Committee, Third Report - Defence Space: through adversity to the stars? (HC 182), paragraph 72, 19 October 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 January 2023.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out how space governance, skills, space domain awareness, navigation, procurement and international work are being taken forward, without adopting the Committee's call for a Minister for Space within the Cabinet Office.
- On governance, it says discussions on space "will be taken by the most relevant Cabinet Committee", and that the Space Directorate's transition into "extant structures" is part of integrating space into business as usual.
- On skills, it says a new foundational space course will be integrated across all Defence entry-level training "next year", and that an Invitation to Tender for the UK Space Academy will be initiated before the end of March 2023.
- On navigation, it says a BEIS PNT project team "will be completed by Spring 2023" and will help decide next steps. It says the Space-based PNT Programme "successfully concluded", with its analysis to be considered by that team.
- On space domain awareness, it states Defence is investing "£85 million over ten years" and that it expects to publish capability goals, including for SDA, in early 2023.