Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of (a) buses, (b) trains and (c) other public transport for disabled people; and what steps she plans to take to improve such accessibility.

This Government is fully committed to our promise to deliver reliable, affordable and accessible transport, with accessibility at the heart of our bold reforms for bus and rail reform and improved passenger standards across the transport network.

The Department has recently published an annual evaluation of accessibility through the Inclusive Transport Strategy scorecard, based upon analysis by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). In addition to this the department publishes annual statistics on disability, accessibility and blue badge holding, which includes data on public satisfaction with different aspects of public transport provision. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee is the Department’s expert committee on accessibility, making sure that proper consideration and assessment of disabled people’s views and needs are central to our decision making.