Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) legally and (b) illegally operated e-scooters in the UK.

The Departments most recent figure shows that 28,608 rental e-scooters were available to operate legally as of the end of November 2022. This figure relates only to e-scooters operating as part of the e-scooter trials in England and is not representative of the UK as a whole. In 2021 and 2020 combined, just under 1 million e-scooters were imported into the UK, according to UK trade data. There are currently no import figures available from the year 2022. It is not known how many of these e-scooters are being operated legally, on private land or as part of the trials, and illegally, on public land and roads.

The provisional estimate of the number of injury collisions reported to the police in England involving an e-scooter was 1,304 in the year to end June 2022, the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available. Information on helmet wearing by e-scooter users is not collected.