House of Commons - Trade and Industry

Select Committee on Trade and Industry Tenth Report

II. ORGANISATION OF SPACE RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE UK

5. Until 1971 the allocation of space responsibilities fell between the Ministry of Aviation Supply, the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Education and Science, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. There was no provision for an overall 'lead' department. In 1971, the Government accepted the recommendations of the Rayner Report which redistributed the responsibilities of the disbanded Ministry of Aviation Supply to the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Trade and Industry.[10] Responsibility for research, development and procurement of space equipment passed to a new Procurement Executive of the Ministry of Defence. Non-defence policy and responsibilities, including those from European space programmes, transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry. A new joint Ministerial Aerospace Board was created to oversee the collaboration between the Procurement Executive and the DTI and to be "available to co-ordinate space procurement activities between the user Departments and the Procurement Executive".[11] The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said in 1971 about the new arrangements: "It appears to us that the organisational requirements of defence procurement have been allowed to dictate the organisational requirements of space activities which arise more from research and development than from procurement".[12]

6. In the following years, there was a recognition that the system was less than perfect. A number of proposals were put forward for some form of national space agency. There were a number of departmental changes such as the abolition of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Space activities, however, remained fragmented until 1985.

British National Space Centre (BNSC)

7. BNSC was formed in 1985, apparently following an enquiry from the then Prime Minister as to which Government Department was responsible for articulating UK policy on space. It was initially set up "as an ad hoc interdepartmental working arrangement" staffed by civil servants from the DTI, Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and staff from NERC and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC).[13] BNSC was given responsibility for co-ordinating the use of funds allocated to civil space developments by the various agencies involved. Its first task was to draw up a Space Plan based on the decisions taken at the European Space Agency (ESA) Ministerial meeting in Rome in 1985, which involved a doubling of ESA expenditure over the following three years. It was widely anticipated that the major participating nations—including the UK—would accordingly double their ESA contributions. In the prevailing wave of enthusiasm, there was a general anticipation in the UK space community that the UK budget would at least be doubled. We understand that the intention had been to review the final constitution of BNSC once the national Space Plan was approved by Ministers. However, when the Plan was eventually considered following the 1987 General Election, the Government decided to maintain expenditure at the existing level. This decision contributed to the high-profile resignation in August 1987 of Mr Roy Gibson, the former Director-General of ESA, who had been appointed as the first Director-General of BNSC. Since then, successive Director-Generals of BNSC have been career Civil Servants, rather than from the space community. The amount of funding BNSC has received through its partners has remained at broadly the same real level. Any further decisions on the constitution of BNSC were postponed indefinitely, although we understand from the evidence submitted by the Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialists that the partnership arrangements of BNSC were renewed in 1991.[14]

8. In 1988, the Government set out their space policy in response to a report by the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology.[15] The Committee commented that the Government's statement lacked inspiration: "the Committee have no confidence that with this leadership the United Kingdom will achieve all it can from space",[16] and "unless we can summon up more enthusiasm for space—a quality that Ministers have criticised- we cannot rely on our partners to go on collaborating with us".[17]

BNSC PARTNERS

9. BNSC co-ordinates civil space expenditure in the UK, advising and acting on behalf of Government and the Research Councils so as to provide a focus for UK civil space policies. Whilst it is in some senses an interdepartmental Government agency, BNSC is administratively part of the DTI and reports to the Minister for Science, Lord Sainsbury of Turville. Its offices are an integral part of the DTI estate. BNSC does not have its own Vote: the funds for which it is responsible remain on the Votes of the constituent organisations.

10. The partners of BNSC are all represented on its Resources Board. Most have staff attached or seconded to BNSC headquarters.[18] Each partner has its own particular interest and area of expertise.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is the sponsoring division of BNSC with a particular interest in communications, technology infrastructure, and wealth creation. In 2000-01 DTI's direct contribution to BNSC is £90.7m.

PPARC's interest is in 'Space Science'—astronomy, planetary exploration, and basic scientific research.[19] PPARC is contributing £45.01m to BNSC in 2000-01.[20]

NERC provides basic, strategic and applied research and training across the spectrum of the environmental sciences. The central challenge for environmental science is to understand and predict the behaviour of the 'Earth System' and Earth observation is therefore seen as integral to the delivery of NERC's overall mission.[21] NERC's contribution to BNSC in 2000-01 is around £11m.[22]

The Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) is contributing £2.52m to BNSC in 2000-01 for climate data research and, with the UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS), is involved in satellite navigation;[23]

The MoD is contributing £6.11m to BNSC and £25.14m via the Meteorological Office (the Met. Office) to operational meteorological satellite systems in 2000-01; the Met. Office also funds the UK contributions to the programmes and infrastructure of the European Meteorological Satellite Organisation (EUMETSAT), currently £13.8m.[24] The Met. Office participates in the development of policy which affects the continuity and developing supply of data in BNSC (and, through BNSC, ESA and the EC) and EUMETSAT.[25] The Met. Office has also collaborated with operational programmes of NOAA (USA) since 1978 through funding of two series of instruments for flight on NOAA spacecraft.[26]

The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), an agency of the MoD, supports BNSC in running the Space Technology and Earth observation elements of the national space programme. DERA also provides project support to the Defence Procurement Agency on the Skynet defence communications satellite programme, and other services to the defence community.

11. The UK spends 0.028% of GDP on space, considerably behind the USA (0.187%) and France (0.157%), and behind Italy (0.048%), Japan (0.048%), Canada (0.042%), and Germany (0.041%).[27] All the main 'space nations' have increased their absolute expenditure on space in recent years, whereas UK Government expenditure has declined and is declining in real terms.[28]

UK civil expenditure:

1995/6	1996/7	1997/8	1998/9	1999/0
£194.89m	£201.41m	£183.18m	£194.58m	£181.19m[29]

12. Dr Haynes of UKISC suggested that expenditure should at least be kept at levels similar to those of the past, rather than the current decrease in real terms.[30] ASTOS believe that it is essential that the budget and resources allocated to BNSC are "substantially increased if the UK is to occupy a credible position within the European and indeed the global space community".[31] The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) stated that overall UK space funding was too low by any standard.[32] We understand that the DTI is undertaking an evaluation of civil spending on space programmes over the last decade.[33] We trust that the results of this will be published. Unless it is suggested that funding has achieved an abnormally low rate of return, it is evident to us that if the UK is to play a significant role in global space activities, there will need to be an increase in the UK Government's expenditure on civil space over the next planning period.