Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to blue badge parking bays for people with disabilities.

Local authorities are responsible for the administration of the Blue Badge scheme and for the provision of disabled parking bays in their areas, ensuring for example that there are sufficient numbers and that they are located in the right places. Local authorities are also responsible for the enforcement of all parking regulations, including those regarding disabled parking bays on-street (the scheme only applies to on-street parking and not to off-street car parks). They will be making their own arrangements for business continuity to ensure appropriate on-street parking enforcement continues.

To support the role that local authorities play, the Department has issued non-statutory guidance to local authorities in England on how to administer the scheme. This includes advice on how to use the powers provided to them in legislation to enforce on-street parking bays.