Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the resources available to (a) police forces and (b) the Civil Aviation Authority to enforce the recent changes to the Air Navigation Order 2016.

The Home Office is helping the police to respond to changing demand with a £460 million increase in overall funding in 2018/19, including increased funding to tackle counter-terrorism and for local policing through the Council Tax precept. The Home Office is currently consulting on proposals to extend stop and search powers in order to consider how effective police powers could be to enforce new or proposed laws such as drones and laser pointers.

In Addition, the Home Secretary has announced that police resources will be a priority for the Home Office at the next Spending Review. To improve enforcement, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been agreed between the Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Home Office and the Police with regards to the policing and monitoring of drones. This MoU is in the process of being reviewed.