Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many approvals his Department has given to (a) close and (b) change hours for ticket offices in the last five years.

140 changes and 4 closures on the rail network have been approved since May 2010. This information is in the attached spreadsheet.

By contrast, between May 2005 and May 2010, approvals were given for reductions in ticket office opening hours at approximately 300 stations with around a further 100 reductions agreed by the train operators with Passenger Focus (and London TravelWatch where appropriate) without needing reference to the Department. In addition, closures were approved at 6 stations.