Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to encourage the development by British companies of unmanned aerial vehicles for civil and commercial purposes.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I declare a shareholding in Concurrent Technologies plc, 6% of whose turnover goes into electronics for unmanned vehicles.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) (Con)]

We are focusing investment on regulation and technology that will put the UK supply chain in a good position to be successful in the global market for unmanned aircraft. For example, through Innovate UK, we are investing £10.3 million in developing technology and supporting UK business to research the safe integration of these aircraft into our airspace.

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

My Lords, the burgeoning technology of UAVs has a vast range of global applications in archaeology, agriculture, communications, exploration, firefighting, surveillance of pipelines and piracy, and indeed in many forms of delivery systems. It may even be possible to develop a delivery system for Focus leaflets, which I should have thought would be very much appreciated by these Benches. Paul Cremin, the head of aviation safety at the Department for Transport, said recently:

“I hear of a new one—

civilian application—

“almost every day”.

He said that it will lead to a revolution in the way we shop, observe and are observed. Is my noble friend satisfied that UK plc—the Government and the private sector—is sufficiently focused on the huge commercial opportunities for UAV systems, an area where we seem to be well behind the Israelis and the Americans?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, all that we are doing will help the UK to be at the forefront of this emerging sector and I very much like the examples that my noble friend has given. We are already investing £1 billion, matched by industry, in the Aerospace Technology Institute. Its latest £25 million competition is open to projects from a range of civil aerospace technologies, including the unmanned aircraft sector.