Baby-changing Facilities

Debate between Baroness O'Loan and Earl of Minto

Tuesday 6th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Minto (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his comments—in all respects. My noble friend made a very good point about how this needs to be practicable. There are a lot of existing hospitality venues where it is not practical to provide additional services, either from a financial point of view or, more importantly, from a space point of view. However, the principle holds good that, whenever the opportunity arises with anything new or anything that is being rebuilt, consideration should be, and indeed is, required under the building regulations improvements.

[Baroness O'Loan (CB)]

My Lords, in considering the situation of parents who wish to change babies in hospitality venues, will the Minister also consider parents who need to change children with disabilities, and older people with disabilities, who need more extensive facilities?

[The Earl of Minto (Con)]

My Lords, that is again a very good point. There is a requirement at the moment to separate disabled toilet facilities from baby-changing facilities, and I think that is probably the right thing to do. This morning, I met the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, and she said that her members take every opportunity to put in baby-changing facilities for precisely the reasons that the noble Lord mentioned earlier: from a marketing point of view, it is absolutely the right thing to do, because you win more customers and more money.