Written question asked by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 November 2011. It was answered by Theresa Villiers (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 November 2011 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Railways: Fares

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect on female part-time workers of future increases in rail fares.

Answer: The Department gave due regard to the equalities impact of the comprehensive spending review decision on rail fares. This was in accordance with the statutory equality duties in place at the time.As part of this we considered that if fares increases disproportionately affected non-season (peak) tickets, then women could be disproportionately affected (as they are more likely to work part time than men). However, in practice, we expect that percentage price changes for non-season tickets will be broadly the same as for season tickets. Therefore in proportionate terms, part time workers are likely to be affected in a similar way to full time workers.

Secondary information