Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help improve the working conditions of PHV drivers working for large national operators such as Uber.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Department for Transport Ministers and officials engage with operators, trade representation groups, and trade unions on the regulation of the taxi and private hire vehicle sector.
Thanks to the Government’s Employment Rights Act, over 18 million workers are set to benefit from greater fairness and security at work. Our reforms will also strengthen the voices of people in the workplace.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to engage with PHV drivers employed by large national operators on their terms and working conditions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Department for Transport Ministers and officials engage with operators, trade representation groups, and trade unions on the regulation of the taxi and private hire vehicle sector.
Thanks to the Government’s Employment Rights Act, over 18 million workers are set to benefit from greater fairness and security at work. Our reforms will also strengthen the voices of people in the workplace.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 93777 on London Underground: Strikes, what discussions Ministers and officials in her Department have had with other transport operators regarding continuing industrial action since 4 July 2024, and which operators were involved in those discussions.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the Conservative Government, we saw national rail disputes that caused two years of widespread strikes and disruption to millions of passengers. On coming into office, this Government acted quickly to reset industrial relations and resolve the national disputes.
Since 4 July 2024, there has been limited, local industrial action, involving four of the fourteen Department for Transport (DfT) contracted Train Operating Companies (TOCs); Avanti West Coast, Cross Country, Southeastern and Transpennine Trains. Also, while no industrial action has been taken since July 2024, the RMT has been in dispute with Northern Trains since 2017 regarding who opens and closes the train doors. Northern are in detailed discussions with the RMT to try and resolve this long running dispute.
DfT officials routinely and regularly have discussions with TOCs on operational and other matters. In the case of the TOCs affected by industrial action, discussions include operators’ plans to resolve disputes and where relevant, their preparedness for industrial action. Dispute resolution is a matter for train operators, as the employers, to resolve with trade unions.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, What assessment she has made of the sharing of violence at work data with trade unions by the train companies contracted to her Department.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Train operating companies must comply with the law, which includes the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The Office of Rail and Road, as the independent railway safety regulator for the UK, oversees these legal requirements. Its enforcement powers derive from the 1974 Act, and range from giving advice and information, through to prosecution in the courts. This covers issues such as lone working, violence at work etc.
The Secretary of State also requests, through National Rail Contracts, that train operating companies measure perceptions of staff safety and develop action plans accordingly.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 19 September 2025, to Question 76656, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her polices of trade unions objections to staff scanning electronic tickets without additional payments.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Train operating companies are responsible for managing industrial relations with their workforces and trade unions. The Department engages regularly with all of its contracted train operating companies regarding their approach to industrial disputes, including regarding ticket scanning.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her Department has to manage industrial disputes within the rail sector following the proposed transfer of all rail franchises into full public ownership.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to resetting industrial relations. A first of its kind joint industry and trade union Rail Engagement Group recently held its inaugural meeting to discuss shared ambitions for GBR. The Government plans to use this group to foster productive relationships with rail workers and their trade unions, where they are valued and respected partners in delivering the positive change we need to see on the network.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the incidence of assaults on bus drivers; and what recent discussions she has had with (a) operators, (b) trade unions and (c) local transport authorities on this matter.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring the safety of bus drivers and is taking steps to reduce the incidence of assaults.
The Bus Services (No.2) Bill includes measures setting requirements for mandatory training for staff including drivers and those who deal directly with the travelling public or with issues related to the travelling public. This training will be on preventing and/or responding to incidents of violence against women and girls as well as anti-social behaviour incidents that potentially affect the personal safety of any passenger, member of the public, or staff. This measure will also extend requirements for relevant bus staff to undertake training relating to disabled passengers. The Department engages regularly with bus operators, trade unions and Local Transport Authorities across the full range of measures contained in the Bill. This will continue as the guidance around this training is developed.
The Bill also provides Local Transport Authorities with the power to create byelaws and deploy officers who can deal with low level anti-social behaviour and fare evasion on the bus network. Officers will have the power to issue fines, ask people to leave the vehicle, bus station or shelter and, if necessary, to remove them if they refuse to do so.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to introduce legislation to provide UK seafarers with equivalent (a) redundancy, (b) dismissal protections and (c) other employment rights to onshore workers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to strengthening workers’ rights at sea, and the Employment Rights Bill includes measures to improve protections for seafarers facing collective redundancy, and powers to protect the working conditions of seafarers aboard frequent international services. My Department will continue to engage with the maritime trade unions and the sector more broadly about the application of employment rights to seafarers, as well as working with like-minded states and social partners to drive up international standards.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of industrial action by train guards on passengers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regrets the impact any industrial action by guards may have on passengers. The Department works with its contracted train operators to minimise the impact of any industrial action and encourages them and the trade unions to resolve matters, through discussion, as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 71253 on Railways: Facilities Agreements, if she will publish a copy of the extant facility time agreements in place for (a) her Department, (b) Great British Railways and (c) DfT Operator Limited.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In rail, facility time agreements are between individual train operating companies or Network Rail and the trade unions (TUs), not between the Department for Transport or DfT Operator Limited and the TUs. Great British Railways has not yet been established so has no facility time agreements.