To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions have taken place with (a) community stakeholders and (b) disabled stakeholders on the introduction of e-scooter trials.

The department has taken a keen interest in the trials and how they may affect those with disabilities and accessibility needs and have engaged frequently with a range of key stakeholders. For example, I met with the Inclusive Transport Stakeholder Group last year, to discuss e-scooters and our local trials. Membership of this group includes representatives from: Age UK, Scope, Alzheimer’s Society, National Autistic Society, Disability Rights UK, DPTAC, Guide Dogs and Leonard Cheshire. Since then I have hosted four e-scooter roundtable discussions - the most recent on 7 June - attended by several groups that represent the interests of disabled people and older people to update them on the progress of the trials and listen to their concerns.

The Department has in place a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme for the trials. This evaluation includes a range of data sources and approaches including data sharing arrangements with operators, surveys, interviews and focus groups with users and non-users and interviews with key local and national stakeholders.

Local authorities are responsible for running the trials and we have instructed them to engage throughout the trial period with disability groups in their areas to ensure their concerns are being heard.