Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on the impact of industrial action on the railways from (a) rail industry organisations and (b) devolved authorities.

Our railways are on financial life support. We have lost a quarter of our passengers and the Government has spent £16 billion during the pandemic, equivalent to nearly £600 per household, irrespective of whether they use the railways, to keep subsidising the railway. We need to make our railways fit for the future and want a fair deal for staff, passengers, and taxpayers so the railway does not take money away from other essential public services such as the NHS.

Unions are threatening industrial action before talks have even begun. Strikes should be the last resort, not the first. They will stop customers choosing rail, and those passengers might never return, killing services and jobs. The RMT trade union are balloting 40,000 members from across England, Wales and Scotland for industrial action and we would expect the relevant devolved authorities to be engaging with the employers in affected areas.

Train operating companies are the employers of rail staff, not the Government. They, therefore, individually negotiate with trade unions on matters such as pay.

The Department has a commercial relationship with train operators, and we maintain a public register of rail contracts available on the Government website at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-register-of-rail-passenger-contracts. This contains guidance on how to request information and what information we are unable to publish.