Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Office of Rail and Road's report, GTR-Southern Railways-Driver Only Operation, published on 5 January 2017, what assurances he has received from that train operating company that the equipment, procedures and staffing are in place as recommended in that report.

It is for the independent safety regulator - the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) - to judge whether the equipment, procedures and staffing is in place to provide a safe railway operation, and therefore it is to the ORR that such assurances are provided. The Secretary of State for Transport is aware that the operator concerned has provided the necessary assurances as recommended in the report he mentions.