Air Traffic Control Disruption

Debate between Keir Mather and Alec Shelbrooke

Thursday 10th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. Do you need medical assistance, Sir Alec?

[Sir Alec Shelbrooke (Wetherby and Easingwold) (Con)]

I am okay, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will struggle on, thank you very much.

The Minister has outlined that there is an investment programme for technology and upgrades, but with software upgrades, there is always the concern that the premise of the programmes will keep getting changed, and that can bring in delays or bugs to a system. Does the Minister have oversight to ensure that the plans for what needs to be done do not keep getting sidetracked by people deciding, “This is a bit more shiny—we should do that”? That would delay the whole thing, and leave us with what looks like an increasingly antiquated system.

[Keir Mather]

Let me reassure the right hon. Gentleman, my constituency neighbour, that we have a system of prioritising what we feel as a Department is most important, passing that through the CAA, and down to NATS. The Secretary of State puts together a priorities letter that sets out very clearly her expectations of our air traffic control system, and chief among them, when that was last done, was technological transformation to ensure that our systems are resilient. That recommendation is more pressing than ever, given what we have seen. The Secretary of State and I will both reaffirm that in our meetings with NATS and the CAA, because this incident teaches us that that technological change should be completed with all possible haste.