§ 25. Mr. Farrasked the Minister of Technology what has been the total expenditure of Government money to date on Great Britain's space programme.
§ Mr. CarmichaelThe total expenditure on national space activities since 1966, including estimated expenditure for the 962 current financial year, amounts to £56.6 million.
§ Mr. CarmichaelAs I said earlier, we have already had test firings of the Black Arrow. It is important to realise that the Government have considered space activities as a means to an end and not as an end in themselves. It is also important to recognise that we are co-operating with the other international bodies, in E.L.D.O. and E.S.R.O. and Intelsat, and that an additional £62.4 million is being spent on this. We have, of course, had a considerable success in satellite communications.
§ Mr. PalmerWould my hon. Friend say that it is just possible that, in relation to the industrial capacity of the country, the British space effort is not as large as it should be?
§ Mr. CarmichaelYes, but a decision was taken by the Government that the British space effort should be directed, as I said, to ends rather than means. We were concerned with the results of what we could put up rather than merely putting something up.
§ Mr. David PriceWould the hon. Gentleman not agree that the expenditure of this country over the last 10 years —this is across Governments—has suffered desperately from the lack of defined commercial and technical mission, and that we have dissipated the money, under both Governments?
§ Mr. CarmichaelThat may have been so at one time, but we are trying to recover now and to see that what we put our money into is commercially viable. This is the point, perhaps, at which the question of the hon. Member for Orpington (Mr. Lubbock), on Question No. 21, could be answered. If we went into the space field in a really big way, the costs would be quite out of keeping with our industrial potential.