Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all airports reach at least a good standard of accessibility as measured by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The Government recognizes the importance of airports addressing the needs of all passengers, especially disabled passengers or those with reduced mobility. Addressing their needs better is an important part of the new Aviation Strategy, currently under development. The Government is also considering what more can be done to ensure that disabled passengers and those with reduced mobility have equal access to air travel and that their needs are met. The Government will consult on policy options to improve accessibility in a Green Paper, due to be published by the end of the year.

These proposals will build on the work of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to improve transparency on this issue. The CAA publishes annual reports on airports’ performance on accessibility, based on a regulatory framework it introduced to the sector in 2014. This is used by the CAA to hold airports to account and to work closely with those that have not reached a good standard, so that necessary improvements are made.