Debate contribution: Hospital Parking Charges Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 23 April 2024.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

23 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Hospital Parking Charges Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4485067

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the opportunity to speak at Consideration Stage. While I welcome the Minister's response on the Bill last week and the level of clarity provided in his comments, it was as a result of those comments that we felt an amendment would be the best course of action. In the previous mandate, all Executive parties supported the Hospital Parking Charges Bill through its entire legislative process. Today, all four of the Executive parties — Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance and the UUP — support the use of accelerated passage to delay the removal of hospital car parking charges. While, admittedly, it is for the Executive parties to justify or not justify their position, they have all had the opportunity to table an amendment to the Minister's Bill, and they have not done so. Last week, Sinn Féin expressed its disappointment that the Hospital Parking Charges Act 2022 had not been implemented and asked how hospital car parking charges could be justified. The DUP said that it hoped that it would not take two years to get the 2022 Act into operation. The Alliance Party said that it supported the Hospital Parking Charges Act and welcomed its passage through the Assembly in the previous mandate. Alliance also stated that the Bill does not alter the intentions of the 2022 Act, but it does. The UUP has given its full support to today's Bill. Let us not dance about it: while all parties endorsed the original Bill to remove hospital parking charges just before the election in 2022, today, only the Executive parties endorse delaying that by another two years. The SDLP and others want to see earlier removal of hospital car parking charges. However, as the Department evidently cannot deliver that within the time frame set out in the Act, the official Opposition have tabled two amendments to today's Bill. Our two proposed amendments are minor and will work for patients and their families. The need for patients to have easy access to hospital services is obvious. It would be remiss of me not to mention that Asthma + Lung UK are in the Building today to launch its "Saving Your Breath" report, as it advocates the need for close and free access to hospital car parking services for those suffering from asthma. Its event will take place between 1.00 pm and 2.00 today. Our amendments will also work for hospital staff and, we believe, for the Department. That is the work of a constructive Opposition. The Minister outlined last week that the need for the delay was the result of a lack of access to NHS England's shared business services framework. The health and social care trusts here had to set up a regional procurement plan of their own, and that resulted in a legal challenge. The legal challenge has now been resolved, and the Department still hopes to award the contract for the new system this month. The Minister has said that the system will not be ready until September and suggested that there will be a need for another few months to complete the process of ordering the equipment, assessing ground conditions and installing the equipment. We believe that will take us up to about February 2025. While we recognise the good intent behind Mr Carroll's two amendments, it is our view that the Department will not be able to deliver on them. Should those amendments be made, the charges will be abolished on 1 September 2024, at which stage the barriers will go up for everyone, but the trusts will still be implementing the new system.

That will only cause confusion and disarray for patients, their families and hospital staff. The SDLP amendments, on the other hand, provide a proper lead-in time for the legislation.

Yes, of course.

Absolutely, and I thank the Minister who, throughout the Second Stage debate and this debate, has been upfront and honest about the impacts of the Bill. However, it really is galling to see people jumping up and down, saying that the delay is absolutely horrendous, and then voting at every stage to create the delay. There is something in there that does not match up. It is important for the public and the staff who work for patients at the affected hospital sites to realise that you cannot have both: you cannot say, "It is a disgrace and it needs to change immediately", and then say, "But we will delay it and delay it". Contrary to what Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance and the UUP say, there is no need to delay the removal of charges at hospital car parks for two years. There are further questions on which we require clarity from the Health Minister. Last week, I twice asked the Minister specifically about the expedited introduction of free car parking for staff. In one response the Minister said:

"There is work on that that is, again, dependent on this legislation going through." — [Official Report (Hansard), 16 April 2024, p70, col 1].

He also said:

"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." — [Official Report (Hansard), 16 April 2024, p68, col 2].

Can we get an assurance today on when that provision will be made available for staff? When will that be introduced? I ask that because we know that the removal of hospital car parking charges will, should it happen, provide a welcome morale boost for our hospital staff who work in some of the most pressurised environments. However, I add a note of caution, which I would like the Minister to reply to in his remarks, on the criteria that will be set for free car parking for staff. We know that, at some of the larger sites, a significant number of staff receive varying scales of pay. If one of the criteria is based on income, will some staff will lose the ability to get a free pass? For example, could a nurse lose out on a pass because they earn more than a porter? On top of that, at the Committee, we heard from departmental staff that the criteria might also mean that a consultant would meet the criteria due to their working across three sites in a day. They might have surgery to perform in one hospital, a clinic to hold in another and be on call. We could have a nurse not being able to avail themselves of the pass because they earn more than a porter, but also because they do not meet the criteria that a consultant does. If that nurse lives in Carryduff, they might have to take the bus into the city centre and the Glider out to the Royal, which means that they would incur more cost than if they were paying hospital car parking charges. That cost could be above and beyond what they were paying for car parking. In other words, it could cost them more. Does the Minister think that that could be an unintended consequence of the 2022 Act? Did the initial sponsor of the 2022 Act ever discuss that with him? Last week the Minister said:

"I have had the conversations with Aisling Reilly, the sponsor of the previous Bill, and she knows my intended consequences of moving this legislation." — [Official Report (Hansard), 16 April 2024, p69, col 2].

Surely this is something that has not just transpired. Was it not discussed that, rather than there being universal free car parking for staff, there would be criteria set and free car parking for some — not all — staff? Was that discussed with the sponsor of the then Bill throughout the legislative process? Were the Executive aware that there would not be a universal free facility as a result of the legislation? Have all the Minister's Executive colleagues been made aware that there will now be a tiered system of free car parking for staff and that many staff will, in fact, lose out? As I said, the SDLP amendments are minor. The amendments that we have proposed would speed up the removal of car parking charges for patients, their families and healthcare staff, some of whom are spending thousands of pounds every year on parking charges. The timescale that we offer is achievable: we have suggested changing it to one year down the line instead of two. We have examined the Hansard reports of the Committee engagement and the Second Stage of the Bill and see no reason for delaying it for a full two years. We appreciate that, for whatever reason or regardless of who is at fault, the legislation has not progressed at the speed at which everyone who voted for it in 2022 understood that it would progress. However, a two-year wait is unfair and ridiculous, given the evidence that we have been presented with. That is why we have proposed the reasonable compromise date of May 2025 for the removal of that unfair tax on patients, their families and hospital staff. I urge other Members to support the SDLP amendments.

1,529 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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