Changing Places Toilets

Debate between Alex Norris and Melanie Ward

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) for securing this debate and for setting such a beautiful tone at the start of his speech. He speaks with enormous power as a parent of a child with cerebral palsy who requires full-time care, and also as someone who has a very long record—before his time in this place—of working with local parent groups and national organisations such as Scope and the Changing Places campaign. I know that there will be people watching this debate who relate strongly to the experience he talked about, and the experience that my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) talked about. By bringing those people into this debate, he will have given them such a sense of peace. He did so with such power, and I pay tribute to him for that. His message, which I double underline, is that campaigning works, and I wish to show that, as a Government, we are bringing that spirit to bear as well, because this is such an important issue.

I am proud to have been a long-standing supporter of the Changing Places toilet campaign—long before my time in this Parliament. I have never officially been the toilets Minister, but I have spoken it into existence by telling anyone who will listen what I think. It is a simple truth that access to toilets—Changing Places in this case, and standard public facilities—is about dignity, independence, inclusion and ensuring that everyone, regardless of their needs, can fully participate in their community. No one, as my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock said, should ever get the message—explicitly or implicitly—that they are not welcome in their own community.

We know that for many people, especially those with complex needs or health conditions, the lack of appropriate toilet provision can be the deciding factor in whether they leave the House, visit the town centre or spend time with friends and family in their community. Without suitable facilities, what should be a normal day out can become a source of stress, exclusion and even risk, and we do not want that for anybody in our communities. That was the spirit not only of my hon. Friend’s speech, but of all the contributions from our colleagues.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has done remarkable work through the £30.5 million Changing Places toilet programme. I have in the past recognised the work of the previous Prime Minister in this space, and I would like to do so again. These facilities provide the equipment, the space and the security needed by more than 250,000 people across the UK—people for whom standard accessible toilets are simply not suitable for their needs.

The fund has supported the installation of 483 new facilities across 220 local authority areas, and has been a jumping-off point for best practice guidance, mandatory technical design training to local authorities and operational training. I heard what my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock said about where that has fallen short. We note that and we will make sure that we are communicating as best we can to make sure that, where these valued facilities have been installed, they are accessible, because the people who work in those spaces can help in the appropriate way.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford was right that investment has been targeted to address gaps where provision is limited or non-existent, particularly in rural towns and coastal communities. It is important to recognise the vital role that transport plays in supporting independence and inclusion, so it must overlap with this agenda. Again, I acknowledge the important work of the Department for Transport, which has made available more than £2.5 million of funding to install Changing Places toilets at motorway service areas and railway stations across the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) recognises the well-loved Keele services, but I know that there are many others across the country. Changing Places facilities make it easier for disabled people and their families to travel however and wherever they want and to be confident that their needs will be met. We have heard a bit about how the facilities are made available, and I think that tool is really important.

The Government’s inclusive transport strategy commits us to improving accessibility and ensuring equal access to the transport network for disabled people by 2030. My hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford has made a very important suggestion about how that could be improved with a single integrated app. I would be keen to meet him to talk further about that, and I assure him that the same goes for my colleagues in the Department for Transport.

[Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) (Lab)]

The Minister is talking about the importance of a single integrated app that would bring together accessible toilet facilities and transport. Does he agree that we need this across the whole of the UK so that my constituents in Fife and constituents in Scotland can travel across the UK? We are, after all, one country, and we need these facilities to be integrated and open to all our constituents. Will he join me in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) on his amazing campaigning on issues like this?

[Alex Norris]

On the second question, I absolutely will. My hon. Friend’s contribution to this debate was outstanding, as is his wider work. On the first point, as we begin summer recess, a great number of colleagues will be crossing national borders within the UK—in my case to west Wales, but others will be going to Scotland. It is important that people know where facilities are and that we have integration. I am always keen to work with my counterparts in the devolved Governments, and I certainly would be keen to work with them on this issue.

My hon. Friends the Members for Congleton (Sarah Russell), for Carlisle (Ms Minns) and for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett), and all of us to some degree, have talked about a lack of provision in our communities, notwithstanding that there are now 2,600 Changing Places toilets. I hope to give a degree of succour, given the very important change that was made by the previous Government, which I want to recognise. The important change in building regulations in January 2021 meant that new large public buildings, from shopping centres and arts venues to motorway services and sports stadiums, have to have these toilets in them. I can give confidence to colleagues that as developments take place, they will naturally get these facilities.

That is really good news and a very important sign. It shows that although things such as building regulations might sound esoteric, if done thoughtfully and to reflect the lived experience of our communities, they can significantly improve quality of life for people across the country. That change will be coming.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Norris and Melanie Ward

Monday 9th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) (Lab)]

7. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of UK Government regeneration funding on towns in Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

The Government’s defining mission is delivering economic growth and driving up living standards. That is why we are investing up to £200 million across 10 Scottish towns over 10 years to support regeneration, tackle inequalities and unleash their full potential. That will empower local communities, improve public services and create new opportunities. That is, of course, alongside the shared prosperity fund, which is investing £4.4 million in Fife this year.

[Melanie Ward]

Many times I have raised with the Minister, as well as with Business and Treasury Ministers, the need for regeneration funding for Kirkcaldy High Street. The brilliant people of our town deserve a modern town centre that makes the most of our incredible seafront and all it has to offer. Ahead of the spending review this week, can the Minister assure me that my message has been heard? Will he also join me in congratulating Davy Russell, Labour’s newest MSP and a strong campaigner for his high street? The people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have chosen well.

[Alex Norris]

I can assure the hon. Lady, her constituents and the House that I do not think a week has gone by without her pushing me on Kirkcaldy town centre. She knows that I cannot run ahead of any multi-year spending review that may be upon us soon, but the point she made, and always makes to me, is a good one. I of course associate myself with her comments about Davy.

Parking: Town Centres

Debate between Alex Norris and Melanie Ward

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Alex Norris)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) for securing this important debate and for the powerful case that she made.

It is one of the great joys of being the Minister responsible for high streets and town centres that I get to attend these debates where people talk about their communities. It is always interesting to hear the commonalities, differences, and challenges they are facing, though I might say with a degree of mischief that it is not often that such debates inspire such coverage of all the nations and regions of the UK as we have today. That is a sign that my hon. Friend is in exactly the right space.

[Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) (Lab)]

I wonder whether the Minister recognises that as our shopping habits have changed so has the need for parking in town centres. In my biggest town of Kirkcaldy, we are blessed to be right on the coast: we could have beautiful sea views, housing, workspaces, and facilities to attract tourists, but instead we have dilapidated, unused car parks which are a true blight on our town centre and on our seafront. Redevelopment funding is badly needed so that our town can fulfil its potential and meet the needs of its residents today.

[Alex Norris]

That is a really important challenge. My hon. Friend the Member for Dudley finished by saying that the issue is not peripheral, and that we need to address broader matters in terms of parking, town centre vibrancy and having a more planned approach to what the future could look like. Doubtless, there would need to be support from the Government of the day, and that message was heard very clearly.

My hon. Friend made an important point, similar to the one that my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) just made, about the reasons for the decline in our high streets and town centres—those obvious changing patterns of behaviour. Colleagues could easily order a book, probably several, in the time I am speaking—I am sure they would not—and that is different and is not going to go away.

Times have been hard for people. Austerity has been a really difficult period for our communities and people are still struggling with the money in their pockets. All that contributes to challenges, so it behoves us to try to drive footfall and to use any levers we have to do so. As my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley said, parking is an important one. In her contribution, the voices of her constituents, be they businesses, long-term residents, students or leisure centre users, came into this Chamber. I hope they see that their views are being echoed, expressed and taken seriously in this place.

I want to cover some of the points that my hon. Friend made, and I do not want to miss out the final contribution, from my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle). Like others, I have seen the coverage of Dudley council’s decision to scrap two hours of free parking, and I recognise the pain, the impact on motorists and the disappointment for residents and visitors that that has caused. I have seen the rally and I was sad to hear from my hon. Friend that there is a sense that the consultation was not done properly because that is an important part of conducting a process properly, even if the results are disappointing.

Parking, together with effective public transport and decent active travel, is essential to the resilience of our towns and cities. However, as has been said, the provision of accessible and affordable parking is particularly important outside the major metropolitan cities and in rural communities. Where public transport is limited, people need their cars—as my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan) said.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Debate between Alex Norris and Melanie Ward

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Melanie Ward]

It also helps employability and, crucially, access to work. Does the Minister agree that such cross-UK funding is hugely important for areas like mine, where inequality is an issue?

[Alex Norris]

I am very grateful for that intervention. I think I can probably speak for most colleagues when I say that the general election was, in many regards, quite a tricky one this time, but one of the few sources of joy was my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister’s battle bus, which seemed to reach admirable distances up and down the country, including to Fife. I know, from having spoken to her, how much she enjoyed that visit. The model my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) mentions is a great example of the impact being made on people’s lives across Fife and in many different parts of the UK. We are very mindful of that.

I want to address the challenges mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Strood. She started with timescales. Certainly, the tiny run-in in year one is not an example of good practice, and is something we would always seek to avoid. I do not think that the Government of the day thought it was a good idea, but I think they rather found themselves a victim of circumstance. We absolutely hear that point.

My hon. Friend mentioned the Local Government Association’s desire for a six to eight-year funding window. Again, I understand that very well. I have to say that that is quite challenging. Governments generally budget on a three-year cycle and often decisions are made on a one-year cycle. We have talked about wanting to give more certainty and a longer time period. I cannot commit to six to eight years, but I can commit to that principle. She mentioned the impact of single-year funding, and as I said, we very much understand that.

On my hon. Friend’s point about central restrictions and monitoring, that is one of the points on which the new Government intend to diverge from the old one. My view is that we need to give communities up and down the UK the tools and resources to use their expertise to improve their community within the framework set by the Prime Minister and his missions for the country. They are the experts in this case, not Ministers. We want a lighter touch on monitoring, and we want to be less directive on what the funding is for. UKSPF is actually a very good example of that, relative to other local growth funding, but I hear some of the challenges on that. They are important design challenges that I think we can engineer out as part of any future local growth funding programming.

Our model of local growth is reflected in the conversations we have had with local authorities and communities up and down the country. We know there is a desire to move to a more allocative settlement, with fewer beauty parades and a stronger focus on deprivation and need. We know there is a real desire for a lighter touch on monitoring, which can become a cottage industry in itself, and that is our view, too. Growth is at the heart of the things that will shape our future and growth. With local growth funding, the clue will be in the name. We want to ensure that the projects chosen by local communities drive growth.

Of course, we must see the fiscal picture in the context of the inheritance left by the last Government. This morning my hon. Friend penned an article on a well-known Labour-leaning blog, and what I took from that was the mutual desire of this Government and local government to reset the relationship to make it a better partnership, and to drive better outcomes. That will, I think, lead us to a more positive place. If local authorities are in the room and fully engaged, they may be able to use their creativity to combine funds with other funding streams, so that the money can go further. The shared prosperity fund has been a good model, but we will make changes, particularly in relation to short-term timescales and reducing some of the burdens. I have mentioned the importance of resetting the relationship with local government. Notwithstanding what we will be discussing on 30 October, those principles will guide everything we do to promote local growth.

We, as a Government, are committed to growth across the United Kingdom. We were elected on a manifesto that stressed the need to adopt a partnership approach with local authorities and an intention to stabilise the funding system, and we are going to do that. We are working closely with local authorities, stakeholders, the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Executive and will continue to do so, to ensure that there is a smooth transition to a new funding regime. I look forward to visiting Northern Ireland on Monday to talk further to colleagues who are interested in the UKSPF.

My hon. Friends are rightly seeking certainty. I know that they want that as soon as possible, and we have at least a bit of a pathway towards it, because, as always, important announcements will be made in the Budget statement and the ongoing spending review will shape the future. We hear the strong messages that my hon. Friends have conveyed. It has been brilliant to hear about the excellent work done in Medway and in other parts of the country, and I am keen to work with colleagues as we go forward to shape local growth funding.

Question put and agreed to.

Building Safety and Resilience

Debate between Alex Norris and Melanie Ward

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alex Norris]

As always, my hon. Friend gives great voice to the people of Slough. We have heard clearly the message on leasehold reform, and we are looking at it very closely. I will cover a little of what we are planning to do in the substantive part of my speech.

My hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) made important points about her fight, and her predecessor’s fight, for women’s equality. So much progress has been made, but we are well short of an equal Parliament, as we are every time. We should all reflect on that, as a collective and in our political parties, and on how we can change that. It will change in our lifetime, but the pace is far too slow. My hon. Friend has the enviable, but perhaps daunting, task of following not only Gordon Brown but Jennie Lee, two giants of the Labour movement, but the passion and conviction with which she spoke augurs well, as does her work for Medical Aid for Palestinians recently; she spoke very movingly about her colleagues and the work they do.

[Melanie Ward]

My hon. Friend will have noticed that in my first speech, I mentioned that in Fife, we have a housing emergency. I draw his attention to the fact that in March, the SNP Scottish Government cut the affordable supply programme budget by almost £200 million. The new UK Labour Government are having to clean up the mess left by the Conservative Government—their black hole of £22 billion. In Scotland, the SNP has been in power for 17 years and has no excuse. Fife council had hoped to build 1,250 new council homes over the next five years, but that is now under threat. Too many people in my area, as I said in my speech, do not have a safe, appropriate place to call home. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is about time the SNP took responsibility for its financial mismanagement? I note once again that SNP Members are not present in the Chamber for this important debate.

[Alex Norris]

This is perhaps the defining issue of this generation. All political leaders have to demonstrate that they understand the frustration and pain caused by the lack of decent housing in this country. We are talking today about some very direct and fatal consequences, but across the country, there are other ways in which housing problems limit aspiration, health and opportunity. We were elected on a manifesto promise to deliver change, but colleagues in other parts of the Union have to realise that they also have responsibility. It is time to make fewer excuses and build more houses.