Select committee: Defence Committee
Recommendation 11
Third Report - Defence Space: through adversity to the stars?
Published 19 Oct 2022
Paragraph 84
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)
Against this backdrop of political failure, it is simply unacceptable that almost four years on, and with tens of millions of pounds spent, the Government appears no closer to coming to any conclusions about development of the UK’s own space- based Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) capabilities. Most recently the Space Based Position, Navigation and Timing Programme (SBPP), led by the UK Space Agency, seems to have disappeared without a trace. Given the vital need for a 38 Defence Space: through adversity to the stars? resilient PNT network both for Defence and for other aspects of Critical National Infrastructure we are deeply concerned by the complacent attitude towards PNT within Government, and by the seemingly low priority which the MoD attaches to this work. Government must publish the conclusions of the SBPP and should set out a clear timetable for producing and taking forward the UK’s PNT strategy in its response to this report.
From: Defence Committee, Third Report - Defence Space: through adversity to the stars? (HC 182), paragraph 84, 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.