Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to introduce a statutory maximum penalty which can be levied on people who incur penalty charges for hospital car parking; and if he will make a statement.

The Department of Communities and Local Government published a discussion paper and call for evidence on Parking reform: tackling unfair practices on the 28 March 2015. We are currently considering the responses, which cover the issue of NHS Car Parks. We intend to publish a summary of responses as soon as possible.

The Department of Health published in August 2014 the ‘NHS Patient, Visitor and Staff Car Parking Principles’. These set out what patients, the public and the Government can expect the NHS to deliver in respect of hospital car parking and are a baseline against which the public can locally hold the NHS to account for unfair charges or practices.

The car parking principles can be found at:

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