Civilian Use of Drones (EUC Report)

Baroness O'Cathain Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2015 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness O'Cathain]

To move that this House takes note of the Report of the European Union Committee on Civilian Use of Drones in the EU (7th Report, Session 2014–15, HL Paper 122).

[Baroness O'Cathain (Con)]

My Lords, I am very pleased to move this Motion to Take Note. In this debate, I will refer to RPAS—remotely piloted aircraft systems—as drones. Not only will this make the language of my contribution less clunky but I hope that it will make it more accessible to the public. However, I am also sensitive to concerns that drones have major military and security implications, and make it clear that today’s debate will focus solely on the civilian use of drones.

Our report opens with the sentence:

“2014 could be described as the year of the drone”.

That was a major understatement. Its year has continued into and extended throughout 2015. Drones are widely discussed in the media. Some weeks it seems that they are talked about every day. They are the subject of many personal anecdotes. Small toy-like drones were tipped as the must-have gift last Christmas. Such a description could make the business of drones seem easy to dismiss. Indeed, I did not realise until the committee embarked on this inquiry that drones also represent a valuable commercial opportunity for jobs and growth. From agriculture to wedding photography—I could not think of anything beginning with Z—more than 670 permissions for commercial drone operations in the UK alone were granted by the Civil Aviation Authority in 2014. There are said to be 2,500 drone pilots across the EU. It should be remembered that all drones have pilots—yes, each drone is piloted, albeit from the ground. The European Commission estimated that the drone industry could generate 150,000 jobs by 2050. The aim of this inquiry was to find out if the European Commission’s estimate was credible and, if so, what needed to be done to help it grow.

Custom and practice in this House oblige me to thank the committee, our clerk, our policy analyst and the Committee Office. In this instance, it is no obligation but a sincere realisation that without them we would not have taken off. I thank them all; they all worked so very hard. The committee was ably supported in its work by its specialist adviser—I do not know who nominated him—Tony Henley, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject area. We all thank him. The committee is very grateful to the large number of businesses, trade associations, regulators and individuals who were so willing and enthusiastic to share their experiences with us. I particularly want to say that we found the Government to be proactive and most engaged on this subject. Their swift and supportive response to the report, which came within 13 days of its publication, is a clear demonstration of their commitment to support businesses in this area and, indeed, to protect the public.

This report is a big first step in analysing the potential for a civilian drone industry. A considerable amount of work remains to be done before we will see small drones delivering parcels or large drones freighting cargo, although the newspapers are constantly speculating about this sort of activity. We must realise that important regulatory and technological challenges remain.

In this debate, I will focus on public acceptance of drone technology. The Government’s response said that if the drone industry is to be successful,

“more work will have to be done to reassure the general public”.

Certainly, that is true. In addition to privacy and nuisance concerns, there remains widespread anxiety about the possibility of a mid-air collision between a small drone and a commercial aircraft. This is a common concern with private and leisure users, who can purchase and operate a drone without even realising that they are piloting an aircraft when they utilise it. As was expressed by Paul Cremin from the Department for Transport, a witness to our inquiry:

“The question, as you quite rightly say, is that when you get the box home, where, first of all, does it tell you that you are buying an aircraft, let alone anything else? These are aircraft. They are viewed in the Air Navigation Order as aircraft, and you have responsibilities under that order”.

This concern is even more alive in the wake of reports of near misses and the operation of drones over football stadiums and close to the Eiffel Tower. By the way, I must state that we did not consider the use of drones for nefarious activities but that anxiety remains very strong indeed.

We heard that the CAA and others were taking action to raise public awareness. Small businesses such as First Person View are including leaflets in the boxes of the devices that they sell. The CAA published a video online just before Christmas and the Metropolitan Police posted information on social media. No doubt awareness of this inquiry has also helped. I found that the press office of the House of Lords did a great job in publicising the inquiry, even helping to organise a slot in the “Today” programme on the day of publication, when I was interviewed live from Riga where I was speaking at an EU conference on drones. They actually work very hard behind the scenes. In their response, the Government confirmed that they intend to consult the general public about the rules regarding the use of drones. The Government also agreed to consider acceptable future applications for drones by the media and police. Is the Minister in a position to share more details about this consultation, in particular its objectives and time schedule? There is no time to lose.

The committee also felt that it was important that misuse of drones was adequately punished. While our report applauded the work of the CAA in general, it concluded that the police should play an increasing role in enforcing the existing law. This is because in addition to aviation regulations, the misuse of a drone often breaches nuisance or privacy laws. Both the CAA and the Metropolitan Police have recently contacted the committee to confirm that this approach is now being adopted. That was a minor victory for us.

The report noted that,

“the workload of regulators at EU and at Member State level … will increase in the near future”,

and urged,

“that regulators be sufficiently resourced to deal with this”.

Research conducted by Dr Alan McKenna on the back of our report found that there had been more than 400 calls made to the police regarding incidents involving drones over the last two years. Does my noble friend the Minister believe that the police have adequate resources to take on this new role? Are police officers being adequately trained in this area?

In our discussions with the Metropolitan Police, the committee also learned that it remains difficult, if not impossible, to identify the operator of a drone. This explains why successful prosecution is so rare. We recommended the creation of a system which could track and trace all drones, especially those flying below 500 feet, irrespective of whether they were flown by commercial or leisure pilots. I am certain that there will be a technological solution to this problem which will be simple and affordable for consumers and businesses alike.

Since our report was published on 5 March, I am pleased to say that our recommendation is being considered by industry, EU regulators and the Government. The Government’s response indicates that they are working with NASA in the United States on this issue. An additional risk we now face is perhaps one of duplication of effort. Can the Minister describe in further detail the Government’s involvement with NASA and inform us whether industry has been involved?

I recognise that there remain a number of other important issues which I have not had an opportunity to touch on this evening—namely the effectiveness of JARUS, which is the body nominated to draft the European regulations; the development of important technologies such as detect and avoid; and the challenges that many businesses face in finding affordable public liability insurance. None the less, I am sure that noble Lords contributing to this debate will bring some of these issues and others to the fore, and that all noble Lords taking part will realise how grateful I and the committee are for their involvement.

Finally, although not in keeping with British modesty, I close with a quote from the European Commission’s response to our report:

“The House of Lords’ opinion is most useful and addresses all the relevant issues for opening the market for drone services in a detailed and open way. The opinion will become an important reference for all policy makers, including the Commission”.

This is a great commendation and perhaps a little help in our relations with the Commission and the other 27 member states. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness O’Cathain]

My Lords, it just remains for me to thank everyone who has taken part in the debate. Perhaps I may particularly thank my noble friend the Minister because he has been assiduous in taking note of all the points that were raised. I am sure that once he reads Hansard, he will see that he has forgotten nothing. His speech was exemplary and I thank him very much. I know that we have all said that the drones are an industry of the future. The development of drones has been described as going from the ordinary phone or huge computer to the terrific smartphones and iPads we have now. It represents a revolution for the aviation industry akin to the development of the jet engine, or even of the first flight by the Wright brothers. Again, I thank everyone who has taken part and I hope that noble Lords will agree to this Motion.

Motion agreed.