My Lords, I thank both noble Lords who have spoken in this brief debate for their acknowledgement of the fact that what we have in front of us is a correction rather than a
substantive order. I think the intent was very clear. The noble Lord, Lord Collins, talked about 2018, and I will come on to that in a moment, but I begin by thanking the noble Lord, Lord McNally, who, as he stated, I was able to call my noble friend for at least five years of my ministerial career. He is a friend in every sense, and it is a real privilege to be picking up on some of his questions.
I must admit that, as he spoke about the Eagle, I googled it—the wonders of technology; I suppose we live in this kind of era. It provided that kind of insight for that generation. As he was speaking he reminded me of something that happened recently. Over the Christmas period, my younger son, who is only nine, suddenly became a real fan of “Star Wars”. In my time, there were only three films; there are now about 11, and then there are sub-strands. He asked me, “When did you first watch it?” I realised that in 1978 I was the same age he is now, so there was some connection there—although he started his question by saying, “Daddy, when you watched it in the ancient times, did they have this technology?” so I am reminded that things move very quickly in the ever-expanding space that is space. Perhaps in future we will have an FCDO Minister not just for the Commonwealth, south Asia, Middle East and north Africa but for Mars, Venus and who knows what else. We look forward to that.
I acknowledge the insights that the noble Lord provided, and the support of the noble Lord, Lord Collins. As I said in my comments introducing this correction, it is important that, when Governments do not get something right first time around, we acknowledge and correct it.
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On the issues raised about the European Space Agency, the noble Lord, Lord McNally, is of course correct: the UK was a founding member of the European Space Agency back in 1975, and it is a key delivery route for UK space objectives. It provides a mechanism to undertake missions that neither the UK nor any other European nation can do alone. It is an inter- governmental organisation which is, as the noble Lord said, independent of the EU. It has 22 members, including EU and non-EU countries such as the UK, Norway and Switzerland, and Canada is an associate member. It recognises the importance of the equities different countries bring to space exploration. One hopes that we can lever it for opportunities that we can all benefit from as a global community in the years and decades ahead.
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, rightly asked about the delay in these errors being picked up. When I first looked at this, I asked the same question: why? I have been reassured by officials that the first draft order went past not just a first but a second and indeed a third pair of eyes to check internally, and it was also discussed in detail with the counsel to the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. The noble Lord mentioned Covid. That, along with the whole issue of the sanctions policy as we left the EU, meant that resources had to be focused on certain priorities. Of course, no one expected Covid. But I pay tribute to our officials. I asked the direct question: how long did the process
take to ensure this review? I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Collins, that, once it was picked up formally again to ensure all the missions were covered, it was a 12-month process before bringing this statutory instrument today.
On the question of whether there was any negative impact from this amendment not being made sooner, as I said, the head of the Harwell centre and the seven high-ranking officials were underprotected. I asked what happened or what would have happened in the meantime. Their P&Is were derived directly from Article 16 of the 1978 order, which provides functional immunity and other P&I in respect of permanent members of staff of the ESA. The 1978 order also contains exemption from immunity for vehicle offences or incidents, which I mentioned. However, as I said, I fully accept that this should not have happened, and mitigations have been put in place to prevent such an error occurring again. In front of us is a clearer and more coherent order, and the high-ranking staff are now included in their own stand-alone article to ensure that it is understood more easily. The drafting has gone through scrutiny and I am confident: it is important that such incidents do not occur again.
The noble Lord, Lord McNally, raised the commitment that we have benefited from. We are also collaborating with the US and Japan. For the UK, we are talking about benefits of over $450 million annually. UK space industry income grew 5.1% to £17.5 billion in 2021. The noble Lord, Lord Collins, rightly asked what this has meant to the local community. Direct employment grew to 48,800 jobs in 2020/21 from 47,000 in 2019/20, supporting a total of over 126,800 jobs across the supply chain. There is a real benefit economically to the community, to us as a nation, to Europe as a continent and, importantly, to the world, as we explore space.
I thank both noble Lords, Lord McNally and Lord Collins, for their support of this SI. I commend it to the Committee.