HL Deb 22 May 1986 vol 475 cc386-7

11.5 a.m.

Lord Orr-Ewing

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in setting up a British National Space Centre since its creation was announced in January 1985.

Lord Brabazon of Tara

My Lords, the British National Space Centre was formed in November 1985 with Mr Roy Gibson as its first director-general. The BNSC's main task has been to prepare a national space plan which takes into account the interests of the various users of space. This will be considered by Ministers in the summer together with proposals on the future status, funding and staffing of the BNSC.

The BNSC is assuming the space-related research and development functions of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Science and Engineering Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and, where possible, the Ministry of Defence, and is acting as a focus for British space policy.

Lord Orr-Ewing

My Lords, will my noble friend tell us how many people the new agency currently employs, and, in particular, how many are fully qualified engineers? Is it not a fact that the British are the prime contractors in every European communications satellite? Should we not give our achievements rather more publicity to try to match the publicity which the French receive for their more modest ones?

Lord Brabazon of Tara

My Lords, the British National Space Centre's policy and programme centre is located in London. It has about 40 staff drawn from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Defence and the other two bodies that I mentioned. Its technology arm is based on the RAE at Farnborough and the Rutherford Appleby Laboratory at Chilton. It can draw on the equivalent of about 240 full-time staff. Future staffing arrangements will be considered by Ministers in the summer.

Regarding the United Kingdom's achievements in communications satellites, yes, my noble friend is correct. After the United States, we are the world leaders in that field. British firms have led both consortia which bid for the £100 million order for the second generation of INMAR satellites. Yes, I think that we should make more noise about our achievements. I hope that this morning's Question will help to do that.

Lord Bruce of Donington

My Lords, will the noble Lord give an undertaking to the House that at the earliest possible opportunity he will make known the organisation of the British National Space Centre? Is he aware that within another context, in a much more advanced stage, of course, certain shortcomings have been revealed in the organisation of NASA, a similar body in the United States? Is he aware that it is most important that in the early stages the organisational structure of the new body is made thoroughly clear and open to discussion? Will he pay attention to that?

Lord Brabazon of Tara

My Lords, certainly I shall pay attention to that. As I said in my original Answer, Ministers are considering the plan and will report this summer. The director-general is responsible to my right honourable friend the Minister of State for Information Technology, and he will therefore be responsible to Parliament for that centre's actions.

Lord Orr-Ewing

My Lords, will my noble friend tell us about the funding of the new agency? How much extra is committed to it, and from where does it draw its funds? Does it come within the DTI Vote, or from where does it come?

Lord Brabazon of Tara

My Lords, that is one of the matters that is being considered. As I said in my original Answer about the centre's future funding, at present the Government are spending about £100 million a year on space science and civil space research and development. About three-quarters of that is through the European Space Agency.