Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on disabled passenger access to the rail network of (a) driver-only operations and (b) unstaffed stations.

With growing passenger numbers, the Department has been clear that it wants to see more customer-facing staff on the railways, not fewer. For example, there are now more on-train staff on Southern and South Western Railways and their modernisation plans will mean more staff to assist passengers on trains. Regarding off-train staff, the number of staff employed at stations in Hampshire has increased by nearly 10% since 2010.

In addition, train and station operators are required as a condition of their licence to take part in the Passenger Assist scheme through which disabled passengers can book the assistance they need.

We believe that train operators themselves are best placed to determine how staff are deployed to best meet the needs of their passengers.