I thank the Members who contributed to the debate. I will make a few comments on their contributions. On behalf of my Department's officials, I thank the Chair for her commitment and support. I guarantee that the Committee will receive the regular updates that it has asked for on the delivery of the legislation and the intention to develop the eligibility criteria.

I have stated previously that the current free parking eligibility is for patients who may have a number of outpatient appointments over an extended period; patients who may benefit from lengthy or frequent visits from relatives or friends; and patients who are outside the prescribed treatment categories but will make lengthy and/or frequent visits. As I said in my opening comments, a commitment was given in the Chamber at the Bill's other stages, and we are now looking at including the eligibility and how patients can access those free permits in appointment letters. That is being explored across all trusts.

I thank Mr McGrath and Mr Carroll for their comments. Both raised issues that were covered during the debates at earlier stages of the Bill around the legal challenges and the appointment of a contractor. How that can be covered and how it came about and occurred was covered at those earlier stages as well.

Many of us are aware of the traffic issues at Health and Social Care hospital sites. Again, the Chair of the Committee raised that with regard to information that the Committee received about patients often waiting for 90 minutes to access a hospital. I am concerned that, owing to the delay in being able to implement the traffic management solution, the current legislation, although clearly well-intentioned, will potentially make things worse for patients and staff by adding to the demand for spaces, which will add further pressure to trust staff, who are already dealing with huge challenges.

I know the value that Assembly colleagues place on private Members' Bills. Therefore, I do not make the proposal to postpone the operation date of the Act lightly. I do so to protect access to hospital sites for service users and because Health and Social Care no longer has the resources to deliver its services. Acknowledging that, I remain entirely sympathetic to the intention behind the legislation. We have a fundamental problem to address. I am conscious that I am asking the Assembly to take a difficult decision today. Unfortunately, given the budgetary challenges facing all Departments, there will be more difficult decisions to come. I know that Members supported the current legislation for the best of motives. It reflected a genuine desire to show solidarity with health service staff, patients and patients' families. However, if Members do not pass this incredibly important Bill today, the stark reality is that hospitals will have no means to control parking, preserve blue-light routes and protect designated spaces. I hope that it is clear to Members from what I have said that, in our view, it creates an unacceptable risk of traffic chaos in and around critical hospitals with the associated risks to staff, patients and the public.

Proper consideration needs to be given to how we manage and control the limited capacity in hospital car parks and to how provision and maintenance will be funded when parking charges are abolished. I therefore urge all Members to support the Bill today. I commend the Bill to the House.

Question put. The Assembly divided:

<SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"> Ayes 65; Noes 11

AYES

Dr Aiken, Mr Allen, Dr Archibald, Ms Armstrong, Mr Baker, Mr Beattie, Mr Blair, Mr Boylan, Ms Bradshaw, Mr Brett, Miss Brogan, Mr Brooks, Ms Brownlee, Mr T Buchanan, Ms Bunting, Mr Butler, Mrs Cameron, Mr Chambers, Mr Clarke, Mr Delargy, Mr Dickson, Mr Dunne, Ms Eastwood, Ms Egan, Mr Elliott, Ms Ennis, Mrs Erskine, Ms Ferguson, Ms Flynn, Ms Forsythe, Mr Frew, Mr Gildernew, Mr Givan, Miss Hargey, Mr Harvey, Mr Honeyford, Mr Irwin, Ms Kimmins, Mr Kingston, Mrs Little-Pengelly, Mrs Long, Mr Lyons, Mr McAleer, Mr McGuigan, Mr McHugh, Miss McIlveen, Mr Andrew McMurray, Mr McReynolds, Mrs Mason, Mr Mathison, Mr Middleton, Mr Muir, Ms Mulholland, Ms Á Murphy, Mr Nesbitt, Ms Nicholl, Mr O'Dowd, Mrs O'Neill, Miss Reilly, Mr Robinson, Mr Sheehan, Ms Sheerin, Mr Stewart, Mr Swann, Mr Tennyson

Tellers for the Ayes: Dr Aiken, Mr Chambers

NOES

Mr Allister, Mr Carroll, Mr Durkan, Mr Easton, Ms Hunter, Mr McGlone, Mr McGrath, Ms McLaughlin, Mr McNulty, Mr O'Toole, Ms Sugden

Tellers for the Noes: Mr Carroll, Mr McGrath

Question accordingly agreed to. Resolved:

That the Final Stage of the Hospital Parking Charges Bill [NIA Bill 02/22-27] do now pass.