I am glad that we have got back to a situation where I am in agreement with my hon. Friend.
The Cumberland infirmary in Carlisle has outlined its concern over its four car parks on its website:
“We are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of cars requiring parking spaces at the Cumberland Infirmary.”
It is already having that problem. How on earth is it expected to find the additional car parking spaces for carers to park free of charge?
In the north-west alone, 102,000 people are receiving carer’s allowance and a further 60,000 people are entitled to it. That is 162,000 people just in the north-west who would be entitled to free car parking under this regime. Where on earth will they all go?
In the 2015 edition of the Department of Health’s health technical memorandum entitled “NHS car-parking management: environment and sustainability”—they always have catchy titles at the Department of Health—Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was quoted as saying:
“The car-park occupancy levels often reach and surpass 100%.”
It is not as though there are lots of car parking spaces available to allocate to worthy groups of people who might need to use them.