Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108459 on Department for Transport: Artificial Intelligence, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of AI-enabled initiatives operating on a test-and-learn basis not delivering the expected benefits on the corporate initiatives efficiency target.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Please see the previous response to Question 108459 which answers this question.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2025 to question 91075, how much has been spent on the display of (1) on-screen human interpreters and (2) artificial intelligence creations of British Sign Language at railway stations.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department and its public bodies have not yet directly taken steps to develop or use artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to British Sign Language. However, as described in both our Transport artificial intelligence action plan - GOV.UK and our DfT science, innovation and technology plan 2025 - GOV.UK, the Department has used its First of a Kind funding programme to support innovative AI projects like Signapse Ltd’s mobile app that uses AI to turn timetable and station information into British Sign Language for deaf customers.
The Department’s Transport Research and Innovation Grants (TRIG) programme provides early‑stage funding for proof‑of‑concept transport innovations. To date, only one TRIG project has focused specifically on British Sign Language and passenger communications: the 2022 Luna Personal Sign Language Avatar Assistant, which developed a prototype enabling passengers to access wayfinding and journey information in BSL on their own devices. This project received a £30,000 grant from the Department.
The Department does not hold information on the amounts spent by train operating companies or other station operators on these systems. Network Rail have advised that they currently use pre‑recorded British Sign Language (BSL) videos rather than AI‑generated signing, following feedback from the Deaf community. Network Rail has also indicated that it has invested in providing BSL content in stations; however, the Department does not hold verified figures for this expenditure.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 104846, what assessment has been made of the risk that AI initiatives described as operating on a test-and-learn basis do not deliver the scale of efficiency savings assumed in the Departmental Efficiency Plan.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department has not undertaken a specific risk assessment on whether the AI initiatives operating on a test-and-learn basis will deliver the scale of efficiency savings forecast in the Departmental Efficiency Plan. The department has agreed to achieve net efficiency savings of £199m from corporate initiatives, and these will be enabled by a broad range of activities, including the use of digital tools and utilisation of technology beyond specific AI initiatives; we are continuing to assess the impact and potential benefits of implementing AI and will continue to develop our alignment on AI initiatives across DfT, it’s Arm's Length Bodies, and Agencies.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the net financial impact of its AI programme, including implementation costs, staff training, data preparation and ongoing system support, relative to the efficiency savings outlined in the efficiency delivery plan.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As set out in the Department’s efficiency delivery plan, we expect a contribution to come from greater use of AI and digital tools. These tools can be used to automate and speed up routine processes that reduce system duplications and drive back-office efficiencies. As part of taking a test and learn approach, we are assessing impact and benefits on a case-by-case basis as appropriate in the life cycle of the project, as we develop our alignment across the DfT family on AI initiatives, and regularly add new use cases and applications.
A recent example of assessing impact is the published evaluation of our piloted Consultation Analysis Tool (CAT)1. This sets out a range of potential benefits, including net savings, which we will monitor as and when the tool is implemented as a standard process.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-consultation-analysis-tool-evaluation.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of ghost plates pose on (a) national security and (b) the ability of hostile or organised criminal actors to evade detection by ANPR technology; and whether she has commissioned a cross-government review on the potential impact of the use of illegal plates on investigative leads, including those related to violent crime, terrorism, and serious organised criminal activity.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Under the new Road Safety Strategy, published on 7 January by the Department for Transport, the Government has announced firm action to tackle illegal or ‘ghost’ numberplates. This includes consulting on tougher penalties, including penalty points and vehicle seizure, more robust checks on number plate suppliers, and higher industry standards for numberplates. We also intend to commission targeted research to explore the potential use of artificial intelligence to identify illegal plates.
In addition, the Government has pledged £2.7m for each of the next three years to support a roads policing innovation programme. As part of this innovation programme, the Department for Transport and Home Office are working in collaboration with National Police Chiefs' Council and others to consider new approaches to tackling the issue of illegal plate usage.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has had discussions with Tesla UK regarding the potential child safety implications of vehicle-integrated artificial intelligence systems.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has not had discussions with Tesla specifically regarding potential child safety implications of vehicle-integrated artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
Many manufacturers use AI tools and techniques to develop and optimise various aspects of vehicles, including their safety systems. For those aspects covered by vehicle technical regulations, the systems are required to be fixed (i.e. they are no longer permitted to evolve) before they are placed on the market and subject to objective testing to verify their performance.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps (a) her Department and (b) its public bodies are taking to (i) develop and (ii) use artificial intelligence approaches to British Sign Language.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Providing BSL translations of pre-recorded audio and video content on public services is a legislative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AAA criterion. As outlined in the Government Service Standard, all digital government services must as a minimum meet Level AA. AAA is best practice.
Through the Service Standard and Service Assessments, the Government Digital Service encourages departments to incorporate BSL into service design. In May this year DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) launched the UK Government’s first British Sign Language (BSL) online translation service for candidates booking their theory test online. DVSA held a series of user research session with BSL users, with one participant calling the service ‘life-changing’.
There are opportunities to use AI to accelerate the creation of accessible content across public services. If public bodies trial the use of AI in approaches to BSL, they would be required to conform with both WCAG and the Service Standard, and must conduct research with disabled people, including Deaf users and where appropriate to the service provision, those who use sign language or a sign language interpreter to interact with the service.
Regardless of if AI generated, services must also make sure any BSL video is culturally appropriate by working with the BSL community, testing it, or getting feedback.
The Department for Transport is committed to creating accessible communications for British Sign Language (BSL) users, as set out in our British Sign Language 5-year plan.
The Department and its public bodies have not yet directly taken steps to develop or use artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to British Sign Language. However, as described in both our Transport AI Action Plan and our Science Innovation and Technology Plan, the Department has used its First of a Kind funding programme to supported innovative AI projects like Signapse Ltd’s mobile app that uses AI to turn timetable and station information into British Sign Language for deaf customers. There are now several examples in the public domain of this kind of application of AI for providing passenger information in BSL being used by train operators and other transport providers.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes their Department has used artificial intelligence in the last year.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As part of its delivery of the Transport AI Action Plan, the Department has established an internal AI programme to identify opportunities and roll out appropriate AI tools and processes to ensure the Department is delivering best value for the public. As well as ensuring access to Microsoft’s Co-Pilot tools to support everyday activities, targeted pilots are being run using AI for correspondence, consultation analysis, information retrieval and fraud detection, with plans for continuing expansion.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment they have made of the potential impact of the use of AI in their Department on security.
Answered by Mike Kane
Use of AI in the Department for Transport falls into a number of categories, each with different security assessment requirements.
Where AI tools and services have been procured from third parties, the department’s supply chain assurance process ensures that security risks are considered and appropriately addressed.
For AI tools and services developed internally, these are deployed in a secure environment following review by data protection, information assurance and performance evaluation specialists.
In line with the Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government, staff in DfT are encouraged to make use of AI technology but DfT does not rely on AI for decision making. The 10 core principles outlined in this playbook ensure the appropriate use of AI within the OFFICIAL tier of government information.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
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.