Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2021 to Questions 171702 and 171703 on railways: staff, what factors and characteristics will be examined in that White Paper.

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 Williams Rail Review was in its final stages at the outbreak of Covid-19 and was then extended to ensure that its conclusions were appropriate in the light of the ongoing pandemic. The reforms are as important as ever and the government intends on publishing a White Paper with details of its plans for rail reform when the course of the pandemic becomes clearer.