LLA and Transport Operators Information Sheet

Research with Transport Operators and Local Licensing Authorities

What is the research about?

The Inclusive Transport Strategy (ITS) is an extensive programme of work that aims to make the UK’s transport system work better for disabled people. The Department for Transport (DfT) has commissioned NatCen Social Research to evaluate the Strategy in order to understand how it is working.

The evaluation is now in its second wave and will build on the findings of the first wave, conducted in 2020. To see report from the first wave, please visit Inclusive Transport Strategy: evaluation baseline and technical reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

A key element of the second wave of the evaluation is to understand how a range of transport operators and local licensing authorities have implemented or are planning to implement actions relating to the Inclusive Transport Strategy (ITS), including in training and complaints processes. The interviews will also explore views on what future inclusive transport policy should look like and the role that DfT can play in supporting transport operators and local licensing authorities going forward.

You can read more about the wider research here.

Who is carrying out the research?

The research is being carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), Britain’s leading independent research organisation, on behalf of DfT. NatCen has over 50 years’ experience of conducting high quality social research.

What will taking part involve?

Organisations will be selected to take part in an interview to better understand disability-related service-provision. The interviews will be conducted by Teams or telephone with a NatCen researcher, lasting up to 45 minutes, at a date and time that suits you.

Topics that will be discussed in the interviews include:

  • Accessibility of transport mode, and actions to improve accessibility
  • Staff training on disability issues  
  • Complaints procedures
  • Suggestions for improvements

What will happen to the information I give?

All information you provide will remain confidential, in line with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. This means that we will not tell anyone, including the DfT, what your organisation has said.

With your permission, the interviews will be recorded so that we have an accurate record of what has been discussed. The interview recording will be kept securely so that no-one apart from the research team at NatCen has access to it and it will be destroyed when the research study is complete. You can contact us to withdraw or clarify anything you have said for up to a fortnight after the interview has been conducted.

We will write a report about our findings and will ensure that it does not name any organisations or individuals, so it will not be possible to identify any participants. However, because your contact details were provided by DfT, it may be possible that the DfT staff could identify organisations as having participated.

What is the lawful basis for processing the data?

The lawful basis for processing your data is ‘public task’. NatCen needs to process the data to perform ‘a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller’ (i.e. DfT).

Do I have to take part?

You do not have to take part, taking part is completely voluntary. If you do agree to take part, you can choose not to answer questions during the interview that you do not want to discuss. 

If you change your mind and no longer want to take part in the interview, please let us know as soon as possible by contacting the research team.

Furthermore, taking part is not a test. We simply want to understand organisations’ experiences of implementing improvements to the accessibility and inclusivity of their service provision.

Contact the research team

If you have any questions about NatCen or about this study, please contact the research team at ITSqual@natcen.ac.uk. Further information about the whole evaluation is available on our website: Inclusive Transport Strategy Evaluation | NatCen.

Complaints

If you believe we have not complied with your data protection rights you can contact NatCen’s data protection officer: dpo@natcen.ac.uk.

You could also contact the DfT’s data protection officer: DataProtectionOfficer@dft.gov.uk.

If you remain concerned about how your data is used or processed, you also have the right to seek independent advice or complain to the Information Commissioners Office:

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