Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effect of his rail policies on the level of access to rail transport of disabled passengers; and if he will make a statement.

The Inclusive Transport Strategy sets out our ambition to create a transport system that provides equal access for disabled people by 2030. Within the Inclusive Transport Strategy, we have set out our plans to make the rail network more accessible including the commitment to extend the Access for All programme with an additional £300m, which as I announced on 4 April will deliver accessibility improvements at a further 73 stations between 2019 and 2024.

We will monitor the delivery of the rail commitments within the Inclusive Transport Strategy, and evaluate its impact to see what progress has been made towards ensuring the rail network becomes more accessible. Progress is already being made - 75% of rail journeys are now made through step free stations, compared to only 50% in 2005.