Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government provides funding for research into (a) detection and (b) attribution techniques to (i) identify malicious drone operations quickly and (ii) support criminal (A) investigation and (B) prosecution.

The Government operates a counter-drones science and technology programme, which provides funding for research into Detect, Track and Identify (DTI) technologies.

These technologies allow operators to quickly detect and in certain conditions attribute drone incidents. Teams across government work closely together and with operational partners to understand and make use of new technologies. We do not make public the amount spent on research into counter-drone technology or routinely name partners that we work with.