Hospital Parking Charges (Exemption for Carers) Bill

I am momentarily puzzled about how the usage of a car park can exceed 100%. Are the cars crashing...

I suspect it means that people are parking in places where they should not be parking within the ...

Order. I do not think we need to worry too much about going over the capacity of 100%. We need to...

I very much agree, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will move on. I will discuss how it might work with my ho...

If there is increased demand for car parking spaces at hospitals and it is desirable that those h...

I do not think that is our worry for today.

Whether it is or it isn’t, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will move on.

I asked my local hospital how...

My hon. Friend is making the important point that his foundation trust does not know how many car...

In fairness, we have had an hour of explaining that we do not know the cost of this. I am sure th...

Absolutely, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Although there are no official statistics on this matter, in...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman has been speaking for an hour and nine...

In fairness, it is for me to decide whether there is repetition. I certainly do not need any advi...

I am grateful for that guidance, Mr Deputy Speaker. The hon. Lady has intervened on me more often...

Order. The hon. Gentleman has given a great number of examples. I do welcome examples, but there ...

I am very grateful, Mr Deputy Speaker.

I will turn to the example that the hon. Member for ...

I just want to say that I am sure things like that do not happen in Somerset.

Order. And I am sure that it is not part of the debate for today.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Again, I will move on.

As the Torbay scheme is the nearest to...

Surely that is a good thing, because it shows that there is a light-touch approach without too mu...

I very much agree, which is why I think the Bill is unnecessary. This can be done much better loc...

Is my hon. Friend saying that carers who currently receive the benefit of free parking would have...

That is my reading of the situation. Because the definition of carers in the Bill is different fr...

Order. May I just say that we have covered Torbay? The hon. Gentleman has moved on, but unfortuna...

I am pleased that you have acknowledged that I am being led astray, Mr Deputy Speaker.

But a little bit too easily.

In which case we must look at the Bill itself, Mr Deputy Speaker, if that is what you are urging ...

I wonder whether the Bill’s proponents have considered the human rights implications of taking a ...

That is a very good question, and I do not know about that. My understanding is that Bills have t...

Can my hon. Friend explain whether under clauses 2 and 5 somebody can quality for this allowance ...

If the Bill goes to Committee, such points can be teased out and straightened out there, rather t...

My hon. Friend makes an interesting suggestion. I contend that the Bill is so flawed that it cann...

Order. That is speculation for another day. We are dealing with the Bill before the House, not wh...

I agree. This is hard work, Mr Deputy Speaker, and you are right—I am anxious to press on.

Before my hon. Friend concludes, will he address clause 7(2) which states that the Act extends to...

I reassure the hon. Gentleman that we are not going to open that can of worms today. Philip Davie...

I knew it was a mistake giving way to my hon. Friend, and that he would try to lead me astray onc...

Don’t let us disturb you. I think your guests are waiting for you.

Perhaps they are, perhaps they are not—I do not know. I genuinely wish the hon. Lady well in her ...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Julie Cooper) on this important and hugely ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that carers provide an invaluable service to the people they care for, ...

I wholly agree with my hon. Friend. The services that carers provide are really beyond the call o...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am not going to give way to anybody on the Government Benches. They have wasted enough time, so...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr Mahmood), who gave us h...

Order. Obviously, congratulating the hon. Lady is a good way of taking up time, but actually I di...

Of course, you were there, too, Mr Deputy Speaker, doing the draw, and very well you did it as we...

Order. Let us leave it there for today.

I will move on.

This is the first Bill to come before the House for its Second Reading sinc...

Order. They do not apply to private Members’ Bills, so we do not need to discuss them. Seriously,...

I am grateful for the work carers do in my own constituency, particularly at the carers centre I ...

Does my hon. Friend agree with the further point that clause 5(1)(b) might provide an incentive t...

There is always a danger with any scheme, as with the blue badge scheme, that some people will tr...

My hon. Friend is providing a forensic discussion of the Bill and all its parts. Does he agree th...

Order. I think we have heard this question before. Mr Davies was asked whether staff would be tak...

I was about to say exactly the same thing, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I do not think that my hon. Fri...

Order. This is very worthy, and it is great to acquire this extra knowledge, but it is not really...

Parking places are finite, Mr Deputy Speaker. If the Bill encouraged more carers to visit hospita...

Order. I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is trying to make, but it has already been ...

It is worth repeating.

Only in your opinion.

The problem with selecting a group to exempt from parking charges is the necessity of considering...

Perhaps my hon. Friend intends to mention it, but he is ignoring the reduction in the availabilit...

My hon. Friend is right. The fact is that in September 2014 the then Health Minister, my hon. Fri...

Order. The question is not how people get into a car park; it is whether there is free concession...

I will move on from that detail. I accept it is a detail, but it is an important detail.

Order. I agree, but we have heard about all the different scenarios previously and in detail. Tha...

I want to move on to the devolution of healthcare. It was only very briefly touched on earlier, b...

It is very interesting that my hon. Friend mentions devolution in this context. Should there be d...

I will not go down that road, Mr Deputy Speaker, although my hon. Friend has made a good point. H...

I did not get a chance to talk about this earlier. Does my hon. Friend know whether, under the Bi...

The Bill is silent on that point. It might well be that, in the mind of the hon. Member for Burnl...

Order. As the hon. Gentleman has drawn my attention to a matter concerning the activities of the ...

rose—

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Certainly.

Further to what you have just said, Madam Deputy Speaker. At the top of the Bill of which you and...

Madam Deputy Speaker, I think we have a solution. It does not say that on my copy. I must have a ...

For clarification, the hon. Gentleman has done nothing wrong. The printing of material such as th...

I shall bring my comments to a conclusion. Given the real likelihood that the effect of the Bill ...

I should like to declare my support for the Bill, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member fo...

I do not know when the hon. Lady left the employ of that particular trust, but it seems from its ...

What the hon. Gentleman said was very telling. He said that he had looked at the website. Not eve...

I mentioned it.

I appreciate that, but it always comes as a surprise to the wider public to hear that staff have ...

Could the hon. Lady’s local hospital trust not write such a policy into its contract? It would th...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but I am not clear what his point is. He said th...

indicated assent.

That would bring us to the issue of how we identify carers, which we have already talked about at...

I also congratulate the hon. Member for Burnley (Julie Cooper) on securing the debate and drawing...

Order. I always let Members get away with this mistake once, and sometimes twice, but the hon. Ge...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will now address only the Chair using that particular word.