Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times in the last 12 months a commercial aircraft runway in England and Wales has had to close temporarily due to a drone sighting.

In accordance with Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, safety-related events which endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk/srg1605.

The CAA will shortly be publishing an Aviation Safety Review in accordance with the requirements of the Regulation. This will include detailed analysis of safety occurrences reported to the CAA in 2016 and is intended to inform the public about the level of safety in civil aviation in a clear, engaging and objective manner.