Hansard

I am grateful to members for their really good contributions to the debate. It has been great to see unity and the Parliament getting behind a growing key Scottish sector. I am sure that that will be welcomed by all the companies and people who work in the space industry in Scotland. The sector has certainly captured the imagination and attention of colleagues from across all the parties.

Over the next few minutes I will touch upon a few of the contributions, or at least the themes raised by members.

I was particularly interest in Sandesh Gulhane’s contribution, which appeared to come to us from the space station. He had dialled in remotely, and his backdrop made it look as though he was genuinely somewhere in space. I agreed with most of his speech, and I thought that he made some good points until he got to the end, when he seemed to say that our space industry was somehow a reason for our remaining in the union. It was then that I realised that he was definitely on a different planet to the rest of us. [Laughter.]

There were many other good and helpful contributions to the debate, and some important themes were raised.

As someone who has been in Parliament since 1999—there are a few other colleagues in the chamber who have been here since then—I know that, if someone had said to us back then that we would be debating Scotland’s growing space industry in the Scottish Parliament, I am not quite sure that we would have believed them. As the MSP for Moray since 2006, I think that if someone had said to me that there was going to be a rocket company based in Forres, I would have thought that they had been having too many local drams, because I would not quite have believed that that could happen either.

Nevertheless, the fact that we are debating the space industry in Parliament, and that these companies are setting up the length and breadth of Scotland, shows how quickly the sector is advancing and the agenda is changing, and how well placed Scotland is to develop a vibrant space sector that makes a huge contribution to the economy.

The Government will accept both amendments. With regard to Jamie Halcro Johnston’s amendment, we very much welcome the UK Government’s research funding and other funding towards the space sector in Scotland, as it is very important. Research funding is reserved to the UK Government and it is important that we have our fair share. The regulation of space and the issues around that are, likewise, reserved to the UK Government.

I say to all members, therefore, that I will do my utmost to have a constructive relationship with both the regulators. In due course, I will meet with Sir Stephen Hillier, the chair of the Civil Aviation Authority—I know that he has been in touch, seeking a meeting with me to discuss regulation with regard to all those issues—as well as with my counterparts in the UK Government in order to ensure that, working together, we can continue to promote Scotland’s space sector.

With regard to the Labour Party’s amendment, we agree with a number of the issues that it highlights, including the importance of science, technology, mathematics and engineering subjects. Attracting people with the right skills, and supporting the development of those skills in the Scottish economy into the sector, is also important. Building effective clusters across the country, which is already happening, and the role of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland in advanced manufacturing and working in tandem with the space sector, are important themes too. We will therefore support the amendments today.

I asked my officials to put together a little map of space activity across Scotland, and they helpfully provided one for me. It reinforces the issues that many members raised when they spoke about companies in the space sector in their constituencies in different parts of Scotland. I cannot go through all the parts of Scotland that have space activity, but the map highlights Shetland, the Western Isles, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, West Lothian, Moray, Tayside, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, the area south of Edinburgh and so on. Beatrice Wishart, Christine Grahame, Colin Beattie and others also mentioned companies in their constituencies. The space industry in Scotland is now very much a national industry.

Alongside other innovative and high-growth sectors such as quantum technologies, photonics, robotics and autonomous systems, Scotland’s space sector is one of the world’s best-kept secrets. I hope, therefore, that we can all, together, endeavour to ensure that it no longer remains that way and that we bring the space industry and those other key sectors out of the shadows. Colin Beattie and other members made that point.

What is currently going on in the Scottish economy is absolutely staggering. In the chamber, we have a tendency to dwell on the negative and the downsides, and on the challenges, which we understandably have to discuss. However, there are an enormous number of success stories in the Scottish economy. I have mentioned quantum technologies, photonics and robotics, and of course space, but those are just a few examples of high-value sectors that are growing and creating jobs, and giving Scotland opportunities for international leadership. We should be proud of that—we should celebrate it more often in the chamber and let the people of Scotland know about it.

My colleague Ivan McKee made an excellent contribution. I thank him—and John Swinney, who is also in the chamber—for playing a significant role in getting the space sector in Scotland to where it is today. Ivan McKee, in particular, oversaw the strategy and the sustainable road map. He mentioned earlier some of the trade missions that he has been on to secure vital inward investment and build relationships. He deserves huge credit for that, and I know from speaking to people in the space sector that they always mention how much support they got from him. All that I can do is stand here and say that I am going to do my best to follow in his footsteps and ensure that we deliver on-going support of that nature to the sector.

However, he did get me slightly concerned when he said that I, as the trade minister now, should support a national space mission. I thought that he meant that I was to lead a mission to outer space—however, I realised when I listened to him that he was speaking about a different definition of “mission”. I agree with some of the points that he made in his speech about supporting our international reputation building, and some other issues that he mentioned, and I certainly want to ensure that we take those forward.

One issue that he did talk about was about encouraging the Scottish Government and public sector organisations in Scotland to become anchor customers of the space sector. That is an important point, and the space companies that I spoke to also raised it with me. They would like to see the Scottish Government and public sector in Scotland working in close partnership to give them business and recruit the space sector, the satellite companies and the data science companies to help to solve some of Scotland’s problem. That is an important theme that we should pursue.

I am pleased that that has begun. Space Intelligence, one of the companies that is in partnership with Scotland’s nature agency, NatureScot, has already produced a groundbreaking new mapping system for Scotland. It is the country’s first ever nationwide, high-resolution habitat map and it gives an insight into how Scotland’s natural capital is changing over time. That will have value for landowners, land managers, farmers, environmentalists and so on.

We have begun that work, but there is a long way to go to make sure that we can make the most of the excellence that is on our own doorstep.

Audrey Nicoll and other members talked about the importance of having a clean sector. People have an image of sending thousands of satellites into space, possibly creating debris and other environmental issues. That is why we should be proud of the fact that Scotland is again leading the world in space sustainability. When I spoke to the space companies, I learned about all the techniques that they are adopting to ensure that leadership. The rocket company Orbex, which is in my constituency, uses a clean fuel to put the rockets up. It took me by surprise that the company has developed that technology, but it just shows the advances that we are making in science and technology in Scotland, and the leadership that the space sector is showing in saying to the rest of the world that this can be done in a sustainable way. It is also great to see that other countries are now learning from Scotland.

I see that I am running out of time, so I will just pick up on skills. Carol Mochan, Daniel Johnson and other members talked about the need to ensure that we have the skills. We do face some challenges in that area, and this is also an issue in the sectors. In a way, they are good challenges to have, because Scotland is so popular for inward investment. We have companies that are about to employ hundreds more people in this country, so we must ensure that those people are available. It is a great sign that companies from around the world want to invest in Scotland. We are seeing that with Mangata Networks at Prestwick, which is about to create 500 new jobs. In the Highlands and Islands, 740 jobs are about to be created, reminding us that the industry is national and not just for the central belt. It is great news that all those jobs are going to be created, but we have to work with the skills system, which is being reviewed, and with our universities and colleges to make sure that the skills are available in the times ahead.

Scotland already has an amazing reputation for so many industries, including whisky, renewable energy, oil and gas—I could go on and on. When we come back to the chamber to debate the space sector in a year or two—or five, or whenever—I hope that the space sector will get the same recognition that the globally renowned industries that I have just mentioned already have all around the world.

Space has a key role to play in supporting Scotland’s economy, in tackling climate change domestically and globally, and in making many other contributions to humankind and the future of our planet. We are already punching way above our weight globally. Given the rapid growth of the global space industry, now is the time for us to step up and seize the opportunity to make Scotland Europe’s space nation.

I commend the motion to Parliament.