Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) local authorities to reduce regional variations in transport support for disabled people.

The Government recognises the importance of accessible transport to enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity. As part of our broader mission to break down barriers to opportunity, we recognise that more needs to be done to ensure transport is accessible to all, and we are committed to driving this change.

We are working closely with other government departments, operators, local authorities and passengers to achieve this – including through regularly meeting with the other lead ministers for disability to ensure we are doing all we can to remove barriers for disabled people.

We are committed to developing an Accessible Travel Charter. The charter is a commitment to a shared vision for accessible travel. It will aim to set out what disabled travellers can expect from their journeys and what to do when standards aren’t met, share best practice across organisations and create consistency in end-to-end journeys for disabled travellers. It will be co-designed by a range of stakeholders including local authorities to ensure it is achievable and impactful locally and nationally. The Accessible Travel Charter and our accessibility focus as a department is committed to making journeys accessible for all, irrespective of location or disability.