Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the implications for his Department's policies of the increase in the number of privately owned drones and its effects on safety for civil aviation.

The Government recognises that this emerging technology has great opportunities for the UK. However the Government is aware that there have been a few incidents that have caused some concerns to other commercial air traffic.

The Civil Aviation Authority has recently launched a publicity campaign called "You have control. Be safe! Be legal!’’ which is aimed at raising awareness of the general public, at the point of purchase, about their responsibilities as the unmanned aircraft operator.

In addition to this a cross-government working group is currently engaged in a piece of work that is looking at the risks posed by drones to commercial civil aviation. The results of this work will inform our understanding of the scale of the problem and what steps need to be taken to mitigate these risks.