Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government which organisations will be involved in the development of the Accessible Travel Charter; and what the timetable is for the development of the charter.

The Department has committed to creating an Accessible Travel Charter. This will set out commitments for participating transport providers and authorities to sign up to, which are clear to passengers and move us closer to the Department’s ambition for a barrier-free transport system.

We remain fully committed to working with operators across all transport modes, local government, regulators, disabled people, and their representative organisations. 160 organisations have been invited to contribute to the development of the Charter to date, either through a written survey, participation in workshops to frame our approach, or meetings with officials. We are also grateful for the ongoing scrutiny provided by the Department’s Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), which provides independent expert advice.

We want to continue to engage as widely as possible as we develop the Charter principles. We will continue this work by organising further targeted sessions as the work evolves, including through direct engagement with people who have lived experience, to ensure this is fully embedded.

The Charter will set out outcome-focused commitments across the emerging themes of culture shift, accessible information and transport providers working together better locally in disabled passengers’ interests. Setting out what passengers should expect across all modes of transport, these principles will provide a clear and practical framework for improving the accessibility of our transport network.

Our aim is to publish the Charter before the end of 2026.