Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Space Industry Skills Gap

Wednesday 21 February 2024 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is prioritizing the delivery of a national space strategy.
  • A space workforce action plan is scheduled for publication later in the year to address the skills gap.
  • Jamie Stone highlighted the potential of Dounreay and Thurso College in establishing a space launch center of excellence.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 George Freeman Con Mid Norfolk
Education Employment Business & Trade
Context

The question is prompted by the need to address a growing skills gap in the space industry, which is critical for its growth.

Question

What steps her Department is taking to tackle the space industry skills gap. I am concerned about ensuring we have a strong workforce to support the growth of hundreds of thousands of new jobs forecasted over the next 10 years in sectors like space and agritech.

Answer from Andrew Griffith

Delivering a national space strategy is a key priority for me and the Department. I recognise that a strong space workforce is critical to this, and my hon. Friend will be pleased to know that we will be publishing a space workforce action plan later this year.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer does not provide specific actions or timelines for addressing the skills gap.

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Q2 George Freeman Con Mid Norfolk
Education Employment Science & Technology
Context

The question is prompted by the need to ensure that local skills improvement plans are properly aligned with job creation plans in innovation clusters.

Question

Will he ensure that the excellent Department for Education future skills unit liaises closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology cluster team to make sure that we are properly building the job creation plans into the local skills improvement plans on the ground?

Answer from Andrew Griffith

My hon. Friend has done so much to advance the interests of skills in the sector during his many years of public service, and he is quite right to draw attention to the successful cluster map that was launched by the Secretary of State 10 days ago.

Not addressed: The answer does not address the specific request for liaison between departments.

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Q3 Jamie Stone Lib Dem Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Science & Technology
Context

The question is prompted by the progress of the Sutherland spaceport project and the potential for local skills development.

Question

Does the Minister agree that the skills we have at Dounreay and at the nearby Thurso College could play a large part in making this a centre of excellence for space launch?

Answer from Andrew Griffith

I do agree with the hon. Gentleman. This is a very exciting moment in UK space, and he has long championed the cause of his own constituents in that respect.

Not addressed: The answer does not address the specific skills and institutions mentioned.

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