(Lab):...Also, there is
no shortage of science sectors emphasising their own
contribution. I will give a few examples. The Royal Astronomical
Society says that the growing space sector is worth £19 billion a
year. The Institute of Physics points out that the photonics
industry, which is the technology of light, had an output of £15
billion in 2023, employing almost 80,000 people—as many as the
automotive and aerospace industries combined. The Rolls-Royce
small modular reactor programme is forecast to create 40,000 jobs
and could generate an enormous export market of up to £250
billion by 2050...
(Lab):...As a former
university administrator of over 30 years, it pains me to see the
dire straits to which our universities have been reduced. Their
significance for research and development should not be
understated. As the daughter of an aero-engineer who worked for
Armstrong Siddeley, which became Bristol Siddeley and then
Rolls-Royce
it was the space industry which captured my imagination —perhaps
it was also listening to “Journey into Space” on the radio. In
pride of place on my bookshelves, which I inherited from my
father, are the complete works of HG Wells—but it is not just a
romantic interest...
(LD):...As
various think tanks have highlighted, first public procurement is
the ticket that enables growth companies to create exports—far
better for our economy than those businesses relocating to the US
or selling out equity in their innovation to other countries.
That pattern has even hit Rolls-Royce
and its small modular reactors, losing 20% equity to other
countries...
The Minister of State, Department for Science, Innovation and
Technology ( of Balham) (Lab):...Science
and technology remain essential for economic growth today. Seven
out of the world's top 10 companies are science and tech
companies, and, in the UK, engineering businesses such as Airbus,
BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce
employ tens of thousands in communities right across the
country—whether they are designing the defence technologies
needed to keep us safe or developing small modular reactors to
drive forward clean energy. My noble friend rightly identified the
importance of both SMRs and advanced modular reactors.
Pharmaceutical giants such as GSK and AstraZeneca, now Britain's
most valuable company, have transformed healthcare for billions,
here and around the world...
To read the whole debate, OPEN HERE
