Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the level of income received from Southend University Hospital from car parking operations; what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to ensure that Southend University Hospital does not make excessive profits from car parking; what recent discussions has (i) he, (ii) Ministers in his Department and (iii) officials in his Department had with Southend University Hospital about car parking operations; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has made no assessment of the level of income Southend University Hospital has received from car parking operations. Decisions on hospital car parking, including charging, are taken locally by National Health Service foundation trusts and NHS trusts. We published the NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking principles on 23 August 2014, which set out a nationally consistent approach for hospitals to take to car parking. The principles are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

No discussions have taken place between the Department’s Ministers or officials and Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust about car parking operations.