Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Vehicle Certification Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) is trialling Microsoft 365 Copilot to support its activities across Microsoft productivity tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams). No other AI or machine learning has taken place.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes Active Travel England has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) currently does not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for any formal decision making. ATE uses some AI tools to summarize large sets of publicly available information and is exploring the use of AI to support administrative tasks relating to case management.
ATE does use machine learning and advanced data science techniques in its analytical work, but these techniques lie outside of the commonly accepted definition of AI.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Vehicle Certification Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) is trialling Microsoft 365 Copilot to support its activities across Microsoft productivity tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams). No other AI or machine learning has taken place.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help support (a) skills development and (b) training in the maritime sector.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT remains committed to delivering a maritime workforce, with the skills and people it needs, both now and for the future.
DfT works with the Maritime Skills Commission in assessing the sector’s current and future skills needs. DfT and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency are working with industry to future-proof seafarer training through the Cadet Training and Modernisation Programme and the Ratings Review. This will ensure UK seafarers remain highly skilled, and equipped with the training to handle new vessels, fuels and future technologies.
DfT supports 50% of the cost of cadet training through the £18 million Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) fund and is updating the 2017 SMarT Review and Seafarer Projections report. These reports provide the evidence base and analysis for SMarT and the UK’s need for seafarers over the next decade.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Office of Rail and Road has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is exploring how best it can use AI in a way that improves efficiency and effectiveness without compromising quality, confidentiality or security. The organisation is also exploring how AI might be used in the rail and road sectors, and any implications for its regulatory work.
ORR staff are able to use generative AI services with data that is already in the public domain such as enhanced search and summarisation, and initial thinking on documents/emails/presentations in accordance with the guidance to civil servants on their use.
For uses that involve non-public information, staff require authorisation. Authorised uses over the last 12 months have been:
· Communications work using the Government Communication Service specific generative AI tool.
· A pilot exploring the use of a specialist app to produce videos using AI generated avatars and copy
· A pilot exploring whether an AI tool can support the creation of formal minutes, and which tool is most effective
· A pilot using machine learning techniques to analyse underlying causes of performance issues on the railway
· Pilots exploring using AI to search internal documentation for specific purposes.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
MCA are using Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is a Generative AI tool for productivity. This tool is being trialled by a selected number of users. Copilot has been used to undertake tasks such as summarising documents, minute taking, report writing and document comparisons.
AI is not currently in use within the MCA systems or for any citizen services.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the last 12 months the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has used artificial intelligence (AI) for the following purposes:
A limited form of AI has been used by the DVLA’s contact centre in the form of a Chatbot.
The Drivers Medical team use a form of AI on a small number of cases. However, it is important to note that a decision on whether to issue a driving licence in these cases is always made by a staff member.
An AI solution is used to develop in-house training courses.
AI is used to assist with cyber security threat detection and analysis.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with relevant authorities to help tackle dangerous driving in (a) South Holland and The Deepings constituency and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes road safety seriously, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. Since the general election, the Department has begun work on a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade. The Department will share more details in due course.
The Government’s THINK! road safety campaign, aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. THINK! launched a major new drink driving campaign in November, highlighting the risks of drinking even a little before driving. The campaign targeted men aged 17-24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over, and who are over-represented in drink drive casualties. Paid advertising ran across social media, online video and gaming sites, radio and podcasts. The campaign also featured roadside advertising near to pubs and bars and posters and beermats in venues across England and Wales.
THINK! also joined forces with industry to launch THINK! 0%, encouraging drivers to always opt for alcohol-free options when getting behind the wheel via timely reminders at the point of purchase, and worked with police forces to support national drink and drug driving enforcement activity in the lead up to Christmas.
The enforcement of road traffic law and how available resources are deployed in South Holland and The Deepings constituency, and other rural areas, is the responsibility of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help tackle drink driving in rural areas.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes road safety seriously, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. Since the general election, the Department has begun work on a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade. The Department will share more details in due course.
The Government’s THINK! road safety campaign, aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. THINK! launched a major new drink driving campaign in November, highlighting the risks of drinking even a little before driving. The campaign targeted men aged 17-24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over, and who are over-represented in drink drive casualties. Paid advertising ran across social media, online video and gaming sites, radio and podcasts. The campaign also featured roadside advertising near to pubs and bars and posters and beermats in venues across England and Wales.
THINK! also joined forces with industry to launch THINK! 0%, encouraging drivers to always opt for alcohol-free options when getting behind the wheel via timely reminders at the point of purchase, and worked with police forces to support national drink and drug driving enforcement activity in the lead up to Christmas.
The enforcement of road traffic law and how available resources are deployed in South Holland and The Deepings constituency, and other rural areas, is the responsibility of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Over the last 12 months AI has been used for a variety of purposes in the Department for Transport.
The department is participating in a pilot of the Microsoft Copilot AI product with ~230 staff. The pilot is being conducted to determine the benefits of this product (particularly potential efficiencies) and its reliability in relation to accuracy and data security.
The department also has an internal programme to develop bespoke in-house AI solutions for a number of specific use cases. The majority of these are still in development and have therefore not yet been used. Those that have are listed below:
Automated drafting of correspondence: AI is being used (currently within a small pilot) to create first drafts of responses to treat official correspondence. These are checked and finalised by officials before being sent.
Automated consultation analysis: AI is being developed to streamline the analysis of open text responses to public consultations, in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute. This is being piloted with a live call for ideas. The performance of the AI is being thoroughly evaluated by social research specialist to ensure reliability.
Fraud detection: AI enabled computer vision has been used to detect fabricated applications for the department's electric vehicle chargepoint grant. This has flagged a large number of applications, leading to further investigation and grants being reclaimed.
Automation of roadside surveys: AI enabled computer vision has been used to automate aspects of a survey to measure vehicle excise duty compliance, replacing a time-consuming manual process.
HGV detection: AI enabled computer vision has been used to analyse ariel imagery to assess potential locations for a future network of electric HGV chargers.
Where personal data has been processed in any of the above examples a Data Protection Impact Assessment has been carried out and all data has been handled in-line with the department’s personal information charter.