Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2021 to Question 165647 on Railways: Females, what his timescale is for setting out details of his Department's consideration of the issues affecting the diversity of the rail workforce over the next decade; and if he will gather and publish information on the number of women in senior roles within the rail industry.

The government is committed to bringing forward vital sector-wide reforms and commissioned Keith Williams to carry out the first root and branch review of the rail industry in a generation.

The government intends to publish a White Paper with details of its plans for rail reform, including its consideration of diversity within the rail workforce, when the course of the pandemic becomes clearer.

We have included requirements within the Emergency Recovery Measure Agreements for train operating companies to provide the Department with diversity data across a range of characteristics, including gender comparisons.