The Government has promised a review of the legislative framework
relating to disabled people's access to all transport services,
following a report by the Transport Committee.
The announcement is made in the Department for Transport's
(DfT's) response to the Committee's report
which was published in March.Attached to this
email are a PDF of the Government's response and a letter the
Committee has written to the Secretary of State for Transport
expressing concern about its response.
The report highlighted widespread discrimination due to failures
by transport operators to support disabled people to use
services, and difficulties that disabled passengers experience
when trying to complain or seek redress.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has now said it will ask the
independent Law Commission to carry out this review, with the
eventual outcome of new “universal and clear” standards being
recommended to the Government.
One of the Committee's major recommendations was for DfT to
produce an Inclusive Transport Strategy within 12 months,
updating the last iteration from 2018. Rather than commit to
doing so, DfT's response says that accessibility will be made a
“key area of focus” in its forthcoming Integrated National
Transport Strategy, but it is unclear when this will be
published. The response makes a commitment that “work focused on
the delivery of accessibility outcomes [in its new Strategy] will
be based upon a clear action plan and milestones and informed by
both the findings of [the Committee's] inquiry and independent
evaluation of the 2018 Inclusive Transport Strategy”.
The response does not fully answer the Committee's call for DfT
to produce, as part of an updated Strategy, a “road map” for
achieving independent accessibility across the rail network via a
series of upgrades to rolling stock and stations. It refers to
the Rail Minister Lord Hendy's previous commitment to produce an
Accessibility Roadmap by “later this year”, ahead of the
establishment of Great British Railways. However, it explains
that this Roadmap “will not provide an immediate solution to
these longstanding challenges [such as level boarding at
platforms], it will outline measures and initiatives”.
In setting out its plans to update the Integrated National
Transport Strategy, DfT does not explicitly respond to the
recommendation that comprehensive data collection on
accessibility-related incidents is needed before operators can be
effectively held to account for failures.
The Government also rejects MPs' recommendation that transport
regulators should immediately be given a mandate, with new
resources, to proactively identify and enforce against breaches
of accessibility law, and for regulators to report annually on
their inspection and enforcement activity. DfT said it will “be
clear that operators and regulators should also treat
accessibility as a fundamental expectation that should be
prioritised and not considered an optional service”. However,
there is little detail on how this could be achieved. It states
that “regulatory oversight” should be “proportionate” but does
not explain what this means.
The report's recommendations that the Government should establish
single unified bodies to handle complaints and carry out
enforcement regarding accessibility failures, across all modes of
transport, are also both rejected.
The Department said it envisages the co-production, between
providers, passengers and regulators, of an “accessibility
charter” that “brings together in one place the guiding
principles that underpin the rights and responsibilities of
disabled passengers, regulators and enforcement bodies, and
operators”.
Transport Committee Chair MP said:
“There are warm words and some promising signs in this response
to our report. But taken together, there is a disappointing lack
of urgency to deliver real, lasting progress and improve the
daily lives of disabled people – to close the gap between rights
and reality. Our inquiry heard so much evidence from disabled
people about how their ability to work, access services and
socialise is denied by transport services that fail to live up to
the promises of equality legislation and policies. This can't go
on.
“We need a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination and
inadequacies in our transport services. Getting the Law
Commission to review the Rubik's Cube of legislation around
accessibility will be a vital first step towards tackling one of
the key problems our inquiry identified. But straightening out
the law, on its own, is unlikely to prompt the cultural
transformation that makes a difference to people's experience on
the ground. A root and branch change in attitudes and more
effective, user-friendly complaints and enforcement processes
will all be needed, backed up by real incentives to improve and
genuine penalties for failure.
“We await the Integrated National Transport Strategy and the
forthcoming Accessibility Roadmap, and we are putting the
Government on notice that we will be watching closely to see if
they deliver for disabled travellers. The suggestion of ‘a clear
action plan and milestones' for improvement sound promising. But
longer-term planning and concrete commitments to funding will
also need to be forthcoming in this Strategy, for staffing and
staff training, for infrastructure and vehicle improvements, and
for effective enforcement.
“Accessible transport is a theme this Committee will return to
throughout this Parliament, expecting to see robust plans and
progress. We will hold this Government's feet to the fire and not
let accessibility be forgotten about. This week, we have written
to the Secretary of State to ask further questions about the
Government's response to our report and how it can be
strengthened.”
