Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Keir Mather and Alison Bennett

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

21. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of passenger rail performance.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

We are starting to see train reliability stabilise, following a decade of decline. We are working with the rail industry on a performance restoration framework, with five clear areas of focus to recover performance to acceptable levels. These include timetable resilience, staffing, and keeping trains safely moving during disruptive events. Rail usage is up month on month: some 451 million journeys were made on Britain’s railways last quarter, which is a 7% increase on the same period last year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Keir Mather]

My hon. Friend is championing the right of his constituents to use the train to get to where they need to. Alongside local stakeholders, the DFT created the Manchester taskforce in 2020 to identify solutions to performance problems throughout the city. The December 2023 timetable has delivered improvements in reliability of around 30%, and new infrastructure may enable more services to be introduced. My hon. Friend is fighting hard for his constituents on this issue, and I hope that my answer reassures him that we are moving in the right direction, but if he has any remaining questions or concerns, I encourage him to write to me.

[Alison Bennett]

My Mid Sussex constituents are frustrated by the number of cancellations, particularly on Thameslink services. One of the reasons for those cancellations is driver shortages; in particular, sickness rates are running at 15% to 20%. The operator has told me that it is now paying private healthcare providers, because NHS waiting lists are so long. Does the Minister think that is good use of my rail users’ fares, and will he make representations to colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care, to make them aware that this is happening?

[Keir Mather]

I thank the hon. Member for her important question about the reliability of train services in her constituency. We recognise that the number of cancellations is completely unacceptable, and that train crew availability issues have been driving many of those incidents. The Department has commissioned work to understand in detail the impact of train crew availability on performance. Issues such as staffing levels, recruitment, training, overtime and sickness have an enormous impact, and I reassure her that we are working with officials in the Department for Transport and inter-departmentally with DHSC to make progress on this important issue.