Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he last held meetings with railway union representatives.

Ministers last met railway union officials in March on the challenges facing the railways and the need for reform. [Since this meeting RMT’s General Secretary has stated that they would not meet this Government.] Ministers encourage the unions to keep negotiating with the railway companies as the employers, to resolve this dispute. The Secretary of State outlined this clearly in his letter dated 16 June 2022 to the RMT General Secretary.

The Secretary of State is being updated by industry on a daily basis on the latest developments in negotiations. Ministers’ top priority is to end the dispute and minimise disruption. That means joining daily calls with the Civil Contingencies Secretariat to improve readiness across government, including mitigations for impact on critical supply chains, and also considering policy options including legislating to minimise the impacts of future strikes.

The simplest way to resolve the dispute is for unions to return to the negotiating table.