DPTAC Main Committee meeting minutes June 2024
Updated 10 September 2024
© Crown copyright 2024
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dptac-main-committee-meeting-minutes/dptac-main-committee-meeting-minutes-june-2024
11:00am to 15:00pm, Wednesday 26 June, Department for Transport (DfT) London and online.
1. Attendees
DPTAC: Prof. Matthew Campbell-Hill (Chair), Will Bee, Prof. Roger Mackett, Mike Brace CBE DL, Bryan Matthews, Sue Sharp, Helen Dolphin MBE, Dave Partington MBE, Sharon Brennan.
Department for Transport (DfT): Liz Wilson, DPTAC Secretariat.
Apologies: Niki Glazier, Audrey Draft.
2. Introduction, conflicts of interest and minutes of previous main meeting
Conrad Bailey introduced himself as Director General of Public Transport and Local Group (PTLG) following organisational changes.
The chair asked for new real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest with the items on the agenda: none were identified.
Due to the pre-election period, the minutes from the previous meeting on 20 March 2024 have not been published. It was explained that the minutes would be published after the pre-election period.
3. Presentation and discussion on evaluating the Inclusive Transport Strategy (ITS)
The committee received an update on ongoing work to complete an evaluation of the ITS, with the intention that this work would be summarised in a report for subsequent publication.
The committee were informed that the evaluation covered the years 2018 to 2023 based on 5 themes within the strategy, which are:
- awareness and enforcement of passenger rights
- staff training
- improved information
- improved physical infrastructure
- the future of inclusive transport
The committee was advised that once the evaluation was complete, its findings would be presented to the ministers for their consideration.
DPTAC noted that issues including disabled people’s ability to have confidence in the reliability of transport and the impact of harassment, which is disproportionately higher for disabled people compared to non-disabled people, should be considered within accessible and inclusive transport strategy.
4. Secretariat update
The chair provided an update on the new committee members’ recruitment campaign.
5. Presentation and discussion on Transport Select Committee (TSC) report of 2023 to 2024 session
The committee received an update from DfT officials on the Transport Select Committee (TSC) inquiry into accessible travel legal obligations and were advised that because of the calling of the general election and dissolution of Parliament. The TSC had not been able to complete its work and publish a report or recommendations. The committee were told that the TSC had provided a summary of its work within its end of Parliament report, which included a summary of the findings from its survey conducted as part of its inquiry.
The committee were advised that this survey had received 825 responses. Most respondents (72%) were disabled or had specific accessibility needs. 19% of respondents travelled with a disabled person or somebody with specific accessibility needs.
The main findings were:
- 90% of the respondents experience challenges or barriers, some people almost every time they travelled
- over one third of respondents frequently avoid certain journeys due to anticipated complications, safety concerns or potential issues
- witnesses said that accessibility issues have worsened in some respects since the COVID-19 pandemic