Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of inaccessible rail infrastructure on (a) employment, (b) education and (c) community inclusion for disabled people.
The cross-government Disability Unit in the Cabinet Office has been established to reduce the barriers that disabled people face in their lives.
The National Strategy for Disabled People due to be published later this year will focus on the issues that most affect disabled people: housing, education, transport and jobs. As part of this, departments across Whitehall are considering how they can make the greatest contribution to the lives of disabled people in our nation.
More widely, the Department continues to deliver the Access for All programme which provides accessibility improvements over and above those being delivered as part of other major projects or whenever the industry installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure. We have recently allocated £350 million to add another 209 stations to this programme during Control Period 6.