Transport Committee launches two new inquiries following Dragon’s Den-style ‘Our Future Transport’ campaign
30 June 2023
The Transport Committee today launches two new in-depth inquiries following its Our Future Transport campaign, where MPs invited the public to pitch ideas on what the Committee should investigate.
The cross-party Committee challenged applicants to propose forward-looking subjects for its next inquiries, such as new technologies and innovations that could shape transport policy in the years to come.
Over 220 proposals were submitted on a range of topics before 12 applicants were shortlisted and invited to pitch to the MPs in a Dragon’s Den-style interviewing process.
WATCH: highlights of the Our Future Transport pitches
The Committee can now reveal its new inquiries, each inspired by two of the 12 in-person pitches that took place in May. They are...
The future of transport data
This inquiry builds on Our Future Transport pitches from Milda Manomaityte of the Railway Industry Association and Nick Bromley of data technology company Matatika.
New technologies like artificial intelligence, coupled with high-quality data sets, could revolutionise how we travel and the infrastructure we travel on.
The cross-party Committee will look at how new ways of using data can improve the delivery of services and infrastructure management, as well as how it can make transport quicker, safer, and more efficient for users. The inquiry will also look at regulations and standards that would be needed, and the potential risks this data usage may pose.
The inquiry comes after the Government published its Transport Data Strategy in March, outlining its ambitions to work with the transport sector to improve the accessibility and quality of data, making it easier to innovate.
Strategic transport objectives
This inquiry builds on pitches from Martin Tugwell of Transport for the North and Malcolm Brown of Angel Trains. It will examine how effectively the Government works across departments to set strategic transport objectives, and how these objectives do — or should — influence decisions on investment in services, networks and infrastructure.
Future investment planning is mostly done on the basis of individual transport modes or specific programmes, often with local and regional government and arms-length bodies advocating for new infrastructure, revenue funding or powers to support and improve services in their area. Funding for some modes is both short-term and in short supply, with resources often allocated by competition. The Institution of Civil Engineers and the National Infrastructure Commission are among organisations who have recently set out the case for a strategic transport vision at a national level to guide policy and investment decisions.
MPs will investigate the extent to which the Government takes a long-term, national and multi-modal approach to predicting, providing for, maintaining and developing the country’s transport needs. They will also assess what difference the adoption of clear, national strategic objectives for transport could make.
Chair comment
Transport Committee Chair Iain Stewart MP said:
“I am delighted to reveal the winners of Our Future Transport, where we invited people from across the transport sector to pitch ideas on what the Committee’s next inquiries should be.
“The upshot of our Dragon’s Den-style interviews is that we have two new inquiries to launch based on four outstanding pitches that hugely impressed our cross-party group of MPs.
“The first new inquiry will look at the future of transport data, inspired by pitches we heard from Matatika and the Railway Industry Association. The Committee wants to learn more about the potential uses of data to improve the delivery of transport services, and to ultimately help passengers get around more quickly and safely. There have been innovations in recent years such as AI, digital twins and TfL’s live data sharing with third party travel apps. Now we want to see what might be coming round the corner.
“The second inquiry will ask the overarching question — what are the Government’s strategic objectives for the transport sector and how are they prioritised? From there, we will examine how those objectives do, or should, influence decisions on investment in services, networks and infrastructure. Inspired by the proposals submitted by Transport for the North and Angel Trains, we plan to dig into the extent to which the Government takes a long-term approach to joining up different modes of transport, and works effectively across Whitehall, for the benefit of communities across the whole country. Our own objective will be to recommend changes that help the Government ensure its future plans dovetail and aren’t made in siloes.
“My colleagues and I are extremely grateful to all those who submitted proposals to us, and especially to the 12 who journeyed to Parliament and pitched to us in person. It was an eye-opening experience that I’m sure will inspire and shape our scrutiny over the rest of this Parliament.”
Further information
Image credit: UK Parliament/Tyler Allicock