Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to set statutory response times for complaints made under the Great British Railways passenger complaints system.

We expect that the establishment of GBR will mean that there will be a single complaint process for passengers for the majority of rail services.

GBR will have to follow the minimum standards set by the passenger watchdog on complaint handling when setting up its complaint handling system. ORR currently sets this standard and guides licenced operators to provide a full response to at least 95% of all complaints within 20 working days. It will be up to the watchdog to determine if this guidance is updated once it takes over this function from ORR.

The passenger watchdog will also ensure all passengers have access to a fair and independent alternative dispute resolution service (the Rail Ombudsman) to resolve disputes with operators where passengers have been let down.