My Lords, resolving the long-standing problems and missed opportunities of micromobility, including e-scooters, is a priority for my department, and we will work with colleagues across government to tackle this as soon as possible. We recognise the need to ensure that dockless cycle rental schemes, including for e-cycles, work for the whole community. That is why on Monday we announced plans in the English devolution White Paper to empower local leaders to regulate these schemes.
My Lords, I welcome the White Paper, with the promise to allow local regulation of micromobility schemes. However, the public continue to buy e-scooters, which are illegal on public highways and which may not be built to the highest safety specifications. When will the Government bring forward urgent legislation on the use of personal e-scooters, covering safety issues, including batteries?
I absolutely respect the noble Baroness’s view. As of December 2023, circa 1 million people aged 16 or over owned an e-scooter in England. In July 2020, e-scooter rental trials were set up to inform future regulation, and in May 2022, the last Government announced primary legislation to legalise and regulate them. This was not delivered, meaning that e-scooters are, as she implied, still illegal to use outside of the e-scooter trials, which are due to run until May 2026. That is why, as I said, it is a priority for my department. We will move to tackle this as soon as possible.
My Lords, some agencies, such as the Safer Essex Roads Partnership, have two or three-week blitzes in which community volunteers and the police combine to stop illegal e-scooter drivers, but this enforcement is piecemeal and only partially effective. When will the Government spread this neighbourhood crackdown on illegal scooters across the country?
The Government are committed to a crime and policing Bill—I was discussing it with my noble friend Lord Hanson of Flint just before Questions—which will look at the plight of local communities being plagued by anti-social behaviour. That Bill is intended to give the police stronger powers to stop vehicles being used to bring misery to our neighbourhoods, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing them. That will allow them to swiftly deal with off-road bike nuisance in public parks and dangerous e-scooters on pavements, as well as street racing and cruising.
My Lords, Spain has started a scheme to identify those riding e-scooters who are driving too fast and are not wearing helmets, and a €100 on-the-spot fine has been introduced. Should we consider that?
I have with me a summary of the way in which 22 European countries have dealt with e-scooters. One of the most striking things is that there is no consistency across Europe or across the other countries surveyed about how to deal with this. One of the challenges of the legislation opportunity that we will take is to work out what is best for this country. There are all sorts of variations: minimum ages, whether you can ride them on pavements and whether you need mandatory helmets, and one or two countries have registration schemes—though that seems as hard for e-scooters as it might be for bicycles. We will have to work through what the best scheme is for this country in order to put forward the appropriate legislation.
My Lords, the Minister referred to a trial conducted by the previous Government which has gone on rather a long time—rather too long, in my view. Would it not make sense for the Government to draw that trial now to an early conclusion and see what lessons could be learned from it before proceeding with legislation, so that it could be informed by the results of the trial? Will the Minister be able to give a commitment that that will be done? When he learns the lessons of that trial, and will he take a particular interest in the use of e-scooters in relation to crime which we see on the street, which is a cause of great concern—not least mobile phone theft?
There is a criminal aspect to the use of e-scooters, particularly illegally, which is why legislation needs to be brought forward to regularise this. As regards the trials, it is implausible to suggest that we will curtail them, simply because they are the only e-scooters used on the public roads which are legal. However, I agree with the noble Lord that we should be learning the lessons of the trials that we have had as quickly as we can—they have been going on for five and a half years, as he recognises. Understanding what is going on in the rest of Europe and in developed countries will help us bring forward the right legislation for the United Kingdom.
My Lords, with reports of deaths on the pavements from e-bikes and e-scooters, there is a lot of worry about safety, particularly for those who are disabled or partially sighted. Can the Minister assure us that, when the consultations go ahead, charities working with people in such situations will be consulted, so that we can make sure we are offering them the maximum protection on our pavements and streets?
I absolutely recognise the risk to pedestrians from e-scooters and, for that matter, e-bikes and ordinary cycles on the footway. I can assure the right reverend Prelate that we will consider fully the needs of disabled, partially sighted and blind people in bringing forward the appropriate legislation. We want people to feel safe walking around our towns, cities and countryside; riding bikes too fast or riding e-scooters on the pavements is completely unsatisfactory for those people.