Debate contribution: Hospital Parking Charges Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Robin Swann on 16 April 2024.

MLA

Mr Robin Swann

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

16 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Hospital Parking Charges Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4483974

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I thank Members for their comments, and I will refer to some of the queries and issues that a number of Members raised rather than name specific Members. I thank the Chair and members of the Health Committee for taking forward the Bill at pace. The Opposition spokesperson indicated that the engagement in Committee lasted for only 45 minutes. Mr Speaker, I assure you that the staff in my Department made themselves available for whatever the duration would be of that briefing on the detail of the Bill. Specifics of the Bill that have been raised include the application of free car parking. Aisling Reilly, the sponsor of the original Bill, asked about the promotion of its availability to family members of those who are receiving treatment, by means of an advertising campaign to ensure that those who can apply for free car parking do so. I will highlight how that can be sought. Any patients in the care pathway for radiotherapy or chemotherapy and their next of kin, partner or a relative, if transporting the patient, can apply for free car parking. Similarly, for renal dialysis, free car parking is available for patients and their next of kin, partner or a relative, if transporting the patient. For critical or high dependency care, free car parking is available for the patient's next of kin or partner while the patient is receiving that care, and there is discretion for a further relative or other visitor. We will do what we need to do to advertise applications for free car parking. On hospital travel costs, there is a recovery scheme for patients who fulfil specified low-income criteria. They may be able to reclaim car parking charges via that scheme. Information on the scheme is widely available to patients, carers, families and friends, and it can be found on trust websites. If an adult or a dependent child has to travel for treatment for medical reasons, the travel costs can be claimed back. People can claim back hospital travel costs if they or those on whom they depend get at least one of the following supports: income support; jobseeker's allowance; employment and support allowance (ESA); guarantee pension credit; universal credit; or child tax credit, with or without a working tax credit. Schemes are therefore available, and we will make sure that we advertise them to those who are eligible. I highlighted the concerns that trusts raised with me about access to blue-light routes at facilities where queues for car parks will have an adverse effect on ambulances' ability to gain access to hospital emergency departments. Additional queues, and the length of those queues, have caused the trusts additional concern. On issuing permits and doing assessments, when I asked officials to engage on whether there was a way of making sure that staff receive a reduced charge or free car parking permit in the same numbers as are currently provided for, the point was highlighted to me that unequal criteria are applied across trusts in Northern Ireland. I have therefore directed that there be consistency across all trusts for those who apply for the parking permits that will be free of charge from the date of implementation. We will make sure that we have done an equality impact assessment of people who obtain those free car parking permits. I mentioned that in my speech earlier. There was mention of access for rural stakeholders. Again, the concern has been raised that, if people — rural dwellers — who are travelling quite a distance for regional services, specifically in Belfast, arrive there and there is no available car parking space, they will have to turn and go home and will not be able to access their treatment or their procedure. That is the concern about access for rural dwellers if car parks become overfull due to this system. Delays in the procurement process and the timeline for the traffic management system procurement has been mentioned by a number of Members. I can say that health and social care trusts have been working to implement the legislative requirements of the Hospital Car Parking Charges Act by 12 May 2024, because that was their legal duty. At the time, there was an available route to procurement for car park management and infrastructure, and that was through NHS England's shared business services (SBS) framework. The framework was valid up until 29 November 2022, and renewal was planned to follow on from that date and shortly after. That was the direction that my Department's officials had been taking in the absence of Ministers. By September 2023, a series of delays to the national framework being available led trusts in Northern Ireland to collectively establish a contract adjudication group to write a specific Northern Ireland tender for car parking solutions due to the uncertainty with the SBS framework in order to minimise the risk of not meeting the implementation deadline of 12 May. A regional tender to introduce automatic number plate recognition closed in November 2023, but, unfortunately, due to legal challenges beyond our control, the contract adjudication group was not able to award a contract. No matter what the Member from the Opposition said about procurement processes being so foolproof that they would not be open to legal challenges, I do not think that any Department in Northern Ireland, or across government anywhere, has been able to do that. Following resolution of those challenges, we anticipated awarding a contract this month. However, due to the technical realities of implementation, the system will not come online until, at the earliest — I emphasise at the earliest — September this year. That is after the new law is scheduled to come into effect on 12 May. During the Committee Chair's comments and queries earlier, she asked what are the implications of that not happening at that point. I covered that after her query in the previous debate. In regard to the implementation by September 2024, an initial high-level implementation plan has been set out by trusts but will need to be refined with the contractor, once a contractor is appointed. In the period to September 2024, it is envisaged that site surveys will be completed by the contractor to look at appropriate locations for equipment, to assess ground conditions and signage requirements and to order the equipment. It is also expected that installation of priority items and equipment will take place by that date. A further eight to 12 weeks is required for installation, such as set-down locations, smaller parking areas, bus routes and delivery yards, and to make sure that there is no potential congestion. Over the following eight weeks, there will be checks to assess whether the system is working as planned, finalised management reports and adding data in relation to permitted staff registration details. Contractor vehicles will be put in place as that stage as well. Diane Dodds referred to access for parents whose children are receiving care. As I said earlier, there are specific times when family members can receive car parking passes. I engaged with the Access to Childcare group myself. I actually sponsored its launch because, as a parent who had a child in a Belfast hospital for 13 months, I know exactly what that means, and that is why I am keen to make sure that this legislation does not have unintended consequences for others. A Member made reference to access to public transport. That issue was raised by the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in regard to wider commitments on climate change, reducing the number of car journeys and the wider utilisation of public transport. I have been working with Minister O'Dowd in Infrastructure, and we have had a conversation about how we look at pooling not just public transport but all those other transport services, should that be school buses or hospital buses, to make sure that we are utilising the full extent of that. I have had the conversations with Aisling Reilly, the sponsor of the previous Bill, and she knows my intended consequences of moving this legislation.

They are genuine — she knows that — and I received the support of the Executive for introducing the Bill and for accelerated passage.

Alan Robinson referred to looking towards the definition of those permits. As I said in the earlier debate, I have directed trusts to make sure that there is a consistent approach across all trusts. I give him a guarantee that I will not be standing here as Health Minister in two years' time to see a further extension of this legislation. I move to Mr Carroll's contribution. My intention to support our health workers through the Bill is genuine. He said that £6·4 million is small beer to the Department of Health: I assure him that, in view of what I am looking at in the budget for 2024-25, £6·4 million is not small beer, considering the challenges that we will face in the delivery of services. He referred to agency spend: I direct him to correspondence that has been circulated and which was part of the answer that he received. Due to actions that I took when I was previously in office, the spend on off-contract agency has reduced by £20 million. Therefore, where he refers to the increase over a period, he has not acknowledged that work has been done to start to address agency spend in Northern Ireland. If I have missed any points that Members have raised, my officials or I will —

Yes.

I do not have an exact date, because I want to ensure that the criteria are equal across all trusts and areas and that it is not simply a first come, first served continuation of the permits that are there currently. That is one of the issues that we brought forward with the sponsor of the original Bill and members of the Executive. The number of permits that we have on each trust and each site remains the same, but there is an equality of access. That was the point that the Chair of the Health Committee raised as Sinn Féin spokesperson. There are people who need the permits. That is why I listed the criteria as to who will be able to access one. There is work on that that is, again, dependent on this legislation going through. Proper consideration needs to be given to how we manage and control the limited capacity in hospital car parks and how provision and maintenance will be funded when parking charges are abolished. I commend the Bill to the House.

1,774 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:00 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reviews every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification