Select committee: Transport Committee
Conclusion 1
1st Report – Access denied: rights versus reality in disabled people's access to transport
Published 20 Mar 2025
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee Accessible transport: legal obligations All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Aside from the structural legal issues, it is clear from the evidence that myriad specific practical issues need to be addressed, across all transport modes and relating to all kinds of disability, to improve compliance and practice on a daily basis. We will seek to hold the Department for Transport, local authorities and providers to account for addressing these issues. The meaningful involvement of disabled people must be central to the work of operators and government at all levels in solving these problems, and such involvement must be adequately funded, planned and supported. (Conclusion, Paragraph 38) From policy aspiration to implementation: where do things go wrong?
From: Transport Committee, 1st Report – Access denied: rights versus reality in disabled people's access to transport (HC 770), 20 March 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 June 2025 (deadline 20 May 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Department accepts that its approach to accessibility can be improved and that transport accessibility legislation needs to be looked at again, but it declines a standalone Inclusive Transport Strategy.
- It does not adopt the recommended second standalone strategy, concluding that "on balance" accessibility is best incorporated within the forthcoming Integrated National Transport Strategy, to avoid it being treated as an "add-on".
- On the legislative review, it "accepts the need to look again" at the framework. It has approached the Law Commission, and the work is "subject to agreement with the Commission", with the exact timeline still to be confirmed.
- On rail, it intends to publish an Accessibility Roadmap "later this year". It says the Roadmap "will not provide an immediate solution" but will outline measures ahead of the establishment of Great British Railways.
- On accessible transport champions, it says it is not its remit to "impose specific personnel roles" on operators. On training, it agrees there is "merit in reviewing" packages across modes and will work with DPTAC to assess how this could be done in a timely manner.