Civilian Use of Drones (EUC Report)

Viscount Goschen Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2015 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Goschen (Con)]

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to make a short intervention in the gap. Perhaps I could start by declaring my interests, first, in that the business with which I work has extensive activities as a consultant to the aerospace and defence sector; secondly, that I am a private pilot; and perhaps, thirdly, that my young son is a rather skilled operator of a toy drone—he is a rather better pilot than his father.

This is an extraordinarily complex subject which we have sought to tackle both in the excellent report of the committee chaired by my noble friend and in the debate today. It feels like the House of Lords at its very best in terms of bringing together diverse strands, technical interests, futurology, regulation and a number of different areas of expertise.

I strongly feel that we are at the dawn of a new age of aviation. I was struck by the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Giddens, who talked about convergence—it is a much overused term but in this circumstance it makes a lot of sense. My noble friend Lord Wei spoke about the internet of things. When we look to regulate this amorphous physical manifestation of the digital age, it is extremely difficult, and we are in danger of creating a regulatory structure where, by the time we have got it up and running, the target has moved away.

The potential for this field is enormous, and we have heard about a number of the applications today. Beyond physical surveillance and carriage of goods, there will be limitless applications that we have yet to consider or even to dream about, but I am very struck by the old technology and the new. The aircraft that I fly was designed in the 1930s; the engine that it flies behind is essentially the same as one that can be bought new off the shelf today. It is very low technology but it is very reliable. The computer in the aircraft that I fly is nearly 50 years old—it is standing addressing your Lordships’ House this evening, and it is deeply fallible compared with the iPhone and smartphone technology that we have heard about. However, we should embrace this new technology and this new industry. It offers fabulous potential not only in the aerospace industry—in its training and operations—but, most particularly, in a wealth of value-added services. I particularly welcome the analysis of the report in that regard.

Of course, there are very clear dangers. Twenty years ago, when I had some responsibilities for aviation regulation, this type of activity was only really thought of in terms of hobbyists’ remote-control aircraft. Now it is open to a much broader field. We know that potentially enormous conflicts could occur with civil commercial aircraft and military aviation; there are privacy implications; there are nuisance concerns; and there are the dangers of the technology being used for nefarious purposes by terrorists and others who seek to commit criminal acts.

We cannot possibly cover all this within the short time available to us, but I want to say just a word about regulation. I believe that the CAA has made a strong start with CAP 722 of the Air Navigation Order, which is the basic mechanism by which our physical aviation is governed. Airspace is at a premium, particularly class G open airspace. I want to make one plea to the Minister, which is that he takes fully into account all users of airspace including light aircraft operators and those who use the precious and limited class G airspace. We are looking at the convergence of regulation here; we are looking at how the CAA interacts with the police and those who seek to regulate digital access and digital technology. I am very much reminded of the passage of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill. By the time it became an Act, the world had moved on and we needed to start again.

I know that, having had the temerity to speak in the gap, I should now conclude my remarks. It is a fascinating field and I suspect that this report will provide a platform for many future debates.