Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether priority was given to bids to the 2018 Access for All programme from local authorities.

We advised that that we expected the views of local authorities and other stakeholders to have been sought when making a nomination. However, this was only one of many factors considered. Other factors included annual footfall, the incidence of disability in the area, and the availability of third party funding for the project. We also took into account local factors such as proximity to a hospital. Stations were also chosen to ensure a fair geographical spread of projects across the country.