Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of skills within the Civil Service to effectively regulate self-driving vehicles.

Responsibility for new self-driving vehicle regulatory processes will be aligned with the Department for Transport’s executive agencies’ existing responsibilities for conventional vehicles, ensuring effective use of their expertise around vehicles regulation.

As part of the Department’s preparations for implementing the future automated vehicles (AVs) regulatory framework, we are also examining what new skills will be required for the regulation of AVs. This includes considerations of skills around artificial intelligence, vehicle safety, and data expertise among other areas.

The Department for Transport also works with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to understand best practice skills development across other future technology sectors.