Meeting of the Parliament 27 April 2023
The key thing is that we should all be working together—the Scottish Government, the UK Government and members of my party. Where there are challenges—there will be challenges—we must work to address them, because this is such an important sector. I think that we will find today that we all agree on that. If there are areas in which we can play our part, it is important that we do so.
If members will excuse the pun, I say that it is not rocket science to see that this is an increasingly important sector, one that Scotland and the UK are at the forefront of, and which already provides high paid, high skilled jobs. However, in another sense, it is about rocket science, because skills are a vital part of ensuring that the sector has the highly qualified people that it needs. More than a quarter of the sector’s employees hold at least a primary degree, which is higher than in any other sector in the Office for National Statistics census.
It is therefore vital that the Scottish Government ensures that the educational pathways are there for the sector, that the necessary subjects are available in schools, that apprenticeships and university degrees are in place, and that they are accessible to Scottish students. That is important, because one of the issues that has been raised with me by some employers is that places at Scottish universities for degrees in areas where we have serious skills gaps are dominated by foreign or non-UK students. We are using our world-leading universities to train up the workforce of our economic rivals, causing recruitment issues here, in Scotland. The Scottish Government needs to look at that and think about how we ensure that our education system—our schools, colleges and universities—are fit for purpose to provide our businesses with the skills pipeline that they need.
I know that one of the things that most impressed Douglas Ross on his visit to Skyrora was its engagement with local schools and its determination to ensure that young people learn of the opportunities of this exciting new sector. That is key, and we know that Scotland needs to do more to provide the opportunities for young people to take science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—STEM—subjects, and to provide the encouragement for them to take them up. It should not be hard to get young people excited about the possibilities of the space sector and get them interested in the opportunities that it offers and how they can be part of it.
However, it is not just about skills. The Scottish Government must ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support the growth of our space sector. That means delivering fast and reliable broadband to local communities, particularly the more remote island communities such as Unst, which are often left behind. It means ensuring that local road connections and—of course—local ferry links are fit for purpose. Further, it means ensuring that there is housing available to meet any increasing demands, which is an issue in communities across Scotland.
The Scottish Government launched its Scottish space strategy in October 2021, aimed at securing a share of the global space market for the Scottish economy. Although the Scottish National Party might be going through its own rapid unscheduled disassembly at the moment, I share the ambitions of the Scottish Government that Scotland should take advantage of the opportunities that this new sector offers and ensure that we are at the forefront of it.
I welcome the UK Government’s commitment to support the space sector right across the UK, including the £373,000 that it has provided for Space Scotland to strengthen the Scottish space ecosystem.
The Scottish Conservatives want to see Scotland’s two Governments working together to support the Scottish space sector and ensure that it has the investment and the business environment that it needs to grow. We recognise the huge potential that the sector represents for Scotland, and its potential to be an industry that is successful across our whole country.
We will support the motion and both amendments today.
I move amendment S6M-08713.2, to insert at end:
“, and welcomes the UK Government’s commitment to support the space sector in the UK, including the recent £6.5 million of funding from the UK Space Agency, which benefitted UK-wide projects such as providing £373,000 for Space Scotland to strengthen the Scottish space ecosystem.”
15:24Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.