Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her Department has to help improve accessibility at railway stations across Essex.

This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities. On 15 January we confirmed that accessibility upgrades will be delivered at Colchester station in the Hon Member's constituency.

Across Essex, 37 stations currently have step-free access to all platforms.

A further 33 stations have some degree of step-free access, typically to one platform only, or to both platforms where interchange is poor.