A CHANGE in the UK Space Agency’s responsibilities will not affect the 200 people employed at its Swindon base.

The agency used to handle strategy and high-level space policy but now the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will take charge following a government review.

The department says the shake-up will support the coordination of the UK’s first ever National Space Strategy, which it hopes will bring long-term strategic and commercial benefits to the country.

The UK Space Agency will continue to lead major programmes to support the first UK space launches, pioneer satellite innovation, and foster space hubs across the country, as well as playing a key role in supporting BEIS for overall strategy plans.

A BEIS spokesperson said: “There are no plans for job cuts and the review will not affect the UK Space Agency base in Swindon.

“All parts of government are working together to further accelerate the growth of the UK’s space sector, which currently raises some £15 billion each year in private investment and employs 42,000 people across the country.

“The UK Space Agency is fundamental to delivering the government’s global ambitions for space, to unlock innovation, push the frontiers of knowledge and create jobs throughout the UK.”

Separately, the agency has lost responsibility for regulation, including rules which govern how spacecraft are launched from the UK, to the Civil Aviation Authority.

These changes came about following a Space Landscape Review from Whitehall into how space-related responsibilities are distributed between the government and the agency, which has £577 million budget.

The new arrangements were revealed two weeks after Graham Turnock, the agency’s chief executive, anounced that he will step down later this year with a replacement yet to be announced. The shake-up suggests that ministers will take a much closer role in determining Britain’s plans for space.

The government announced a major UK space strategy in 2019’s Queen’s Speech and the establishment of a National Space Council, a cabinet-level committee that is due to meet next month.

The strategy is yet to be announced. Last month, industry body UKspace warned that Britain risked becoming permanently stuck as a “tier three” space nation, saying it was “sleepwalking into greater and greater dependency on others for our economic resilience and security”.