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I beg to move,
That this House has considered capital funding for Changing Places toilets.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate. At the outset, I declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary groups for access to disability equipment and for wheelchair users, and I am also the parent of a child with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who relies on Changing Places toilets.
Changing Places toilets are designed for people with profound and multiple disabilities and their carers, who need space and equipment—such as ceiling track hoists and height-adjustable, adult-sized changing beds—that a standard accessible toilet would not provide. Almost 250,000 people in the United Kingdom need personal assistance to use the toilet or change incontinence pads, including people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, spinal injuries and a number of other complex needs.
Currently, the number of active and registered Changing Places toilets stands at 2,665, which has greatly increased from the 140 available back in 2007. Last year, there were 99 registrations of new Changing Places toilets across the UK, including in Madame Tussauds here in London, in five Lloyds Banking Group locations and at three National Trust locations.
Back in 2005, the Changing Places consortium was established as a group of individuals and organisations that support the rights of people with disabilities. At the heart of the consortium’s members is PAMIS, a voluntary organisation based in Dundee that supports parents of children and adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities, alongside the Centre for Accessible Environments.
I pay tribute to the late Loretta Lamb, the founder and chief executive officer of PAMIS, along with the team of staff and volunteers behind Changing Places toilets, led by Jenny, Karen and Fiona. I also want to highlight Changing Places Awareness Day, which is this coming Sunday 19 July. Campaigners have worked tirelessly to raise awareness and push for greater inclusion for disabled people, their families and carers.
Changing Places toilets have been vital for my family. I am the father of twins, and one of our daughters has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She is a wheelchair user and unable to tell us when she needs the toilet; she is still in nappies at almost 13 years of age. Given her height and weight, a changing bed is essential to changing her with dignity. Prior to the roll-out of Changing Places toilets in recent years, I had the indignity of changing my child on a bench, behind a bush or on the floor of our wheelchair-accessible van; unfortunately, it occasionally still happens today. Changing Places toilets are vital to giving her some dignity.
The roll-out of Changing Places toilets and the Changing Places map facility allows families like ours to plan their days out, trips and travel arrangements, knowing where there will be a toilet. As a result of additional funding from the Department for Transport, a new journey planner feature has been launched as part of the Changing Places toilet map, which allows increased functionality for planning, saving and downloading travel routes with Changing Places toilets. Both the map and the journey planner have been life-changing for many families, allowing them access to places and days out and enabling them to plan routes around availability at service stations, which has greatly increased in the last 10 years, train stations, seaside destinations or museums. They allow both my children to have the same dignity and respect as other children out there.
When I held an Adjournment debate on this subject last July, I reported that the number of registered facilities at that point was 2,609. It is positive that that number continues to grow, but that growth is slowing. Much as I support my party and my Government, that is in many respects because of the end of the previous scheme in March 2025. That is why I continue to call for a form of funding, through the reintroduction of a capital grant, to be brought forward to allow organisations, companies and charities to install new Changing Places toilets and to bring existing Changing Places toilets up to current standard. In this building, our Changing Places toilet is really not up to a modern standard. I used it a few weeks ago with my daughter—it is a back-breaker.
An expansion of capital funding for Changing Places toilets would lead to people with profound disabilities accessing more opportunities and more families and individuals contributing to our hospitality businesses, theme parks, leisure facilities and sports grounds—the list goes on.
There was, of course, a previous fund. In 2019, the then Conservative Government ran a consultation on the proposal to increase the provision of Changing Places toilets. Following that consultation, the Government announced that the provision of Changing Places toilets in new public buildings above a certain size would be compulsory, and that was brought into force on 1 January 2021. I am very grateful that the then local government Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), has joined us this afternoon. I absolutely accept that he was fundamental in getting the law changed and ensuring that the consultation was held.
In July 2021, the then Government launched a £30.5 million fund to expand the provision of Changing Places toilets. From that fund, almost 500 new facilities were installed. I know from experience that there has been a profound change in the last 10 years that has made travelling up and down the country much easier. Near where we are standing today, people can access Changing Places toilets at the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery, Ikea in Oxford Street or Waterloo Station, which did not have them 10 years ago.
The fund closed in March 2025. Although I acknowledge that changes to building regulations ensure that facilities continue to be installed in new buildings, I retain concerns that older buildings would greatly benefit from having a Changing Places toilet installed. For example, in April this year, one of those older buildings—St Paul’s cathedral—opened a Changing Places facility, giving visitors who require specialist toilets the ability to access them. I understand that there is now such a facility at Blackburn cathedral and that there will shortly be one at Lambeth Palace.
I go back to what I said about motorways. In November 2018, the DFT announced that it was partnering with Muscular Dystrophy UK to expand the provision of Changing Places toilets at service stations. We now have 54 Changing Places toilets at service stations across the UK. That has been a huge step forward in allowing families like mine more freedom and options when planning their journeys up and down the country.
I am calling for an official Changing Places app. Currently, people can access a map on the main Changing Places Consortium website, but an official Changing Places app with identification mapping would allow users to quickly identify where toilets are while on journeys. I have said this many times during the passage of the Railways Bill and many times in the Chamber: I believe that Great British Railways should bring forward a national transport accessibility app that shows the availability of level access, station accessibility, live travel lift information, as the TfL Go app has, and locations of Changing Places toilets.
A new form of capital funding would give businesses and local authorities the opportunity and encouragement to bring forward more Changing Places facilities. A number of hon. Friends have identified locations where they believe Changing Places toilets could be installed. For instance, my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish), who sadly cannot be with us this afternoon, has spoken to me at length about support for a national fund. In his local authority, Rushcliffe borough council, he has been looking for two years to install a Changing Places toilet facility in West Bridgford, the town centre, and is struggling to locate the funding to do so. I ask the Minister to outline what consideration the Department has given to the merits of bringing forward a new capital fund.
I turn now to the importance of maintaining Changing Places toilets. I mentioned last year that, in Bexleyheath town centre, we had to close a Changing Places toilet because of the vandalism it was receiving, with people living in it and dealing drugs in it. I will continue to call for a greater system beyond the current radar key system. Radar keys are openly available in shops and on the internet and there are too many occasions when Changing Places toilets are vandalised as a result of misuse.
I thank the Chamber engagement team for their hard work in organising a survey for the public to share their experiences of using Changing Places toilets and the impact on people’s lives. I thank the more than 100,000 people who have taken the time to answer the survey over the last week. I wanted to read a few of the responses. One respondent said:
“My daughter is severely disabled. Our first experience of Changing Places toilets was at Center Parcs…I was amazed and overwhelmed with emotions when I saw how I could finally change my daughter comfortably and how excited she was when she realised this was made for people like her.”
Another said:
“My son’s opportunities to go to new places or anywhere over a certain distance is dependent on the availability of Changing Places…We work hard all week and want the same opportunities other families have to go out as a family and do interesting things. Without Changing Places we’re trapped at home.”
Other respondents’ experiences highlighted that there is still a lack of available and well-maintained facilities across the country. One said:
“Without access to an appropriate facility, I am left with impossible choices: ending outings early, avoiding certain venues altogether, or changing my daughter on the floor of an accessible toilet, which is neither hygienic, safe nor dignified.”
I have read through the responses to the survey, and there was a lot of appreciation for Changing Places toilets and the benefits they bring to the lives of severely disabled people and their families. There are also, however, a number of horror stories of people’s experiences where facilities were not available or where they have not been maintained to a suitable standard. I have shared one from my constituency; I could tell of others that have been vandalised or locked. On one occasion, in Brighton city centre, a toilet was locked after 4 pm in the winter. On another occasion, a seaside town locked it from October to March—but people still visit then.
A new round of funding would ensure that Changing Places toilets are maintained and held to a good standard, that training is provided, and that new facilities are opened across the country. Every family deserves to be able to go on days out and partake in everyday activities.
I want to talk about the Scottish Government. They have a fund managed by Inspiring Scotland in partnership with PAMIS that is part of a £10 million investment in the last and current financial years into planning and installing 150 additional facilities across Scotland. I understand that the fund continues to be open for applications, which can be found on the Inspiring Scotland website. I look forward to seeing more facilities opening, benefiting the people and economy of Scotland.
I want briefly to talk about hospitals, although I know that that is not in the Minister’s remit. Changing Places toilets are important for people when they are out and about, but also for people in hospital. My daughter is served by four different London hospitals. In a hospital setting, one would expect to have people with a profound disability who need to use such facilities, but there is variable information about which hospitals do and do not provide them and where they are located within those hospitals.
I submitted a written question to inquire about the number of Changing Places hospitals. Unfortunately, no assessment has been made and the Department of Health does not hold that information, so it appears that more work needs to be done on that. There is national guidance provided to the NHS on designated sanitary spaces in healthcare settings and designed facilities to meet the needs of disabled people—but without clear provision of toilets, needs are not met for people accessing hospital appointments. In 2019, it was estimated that the average cost of installing a Changing Places toilet in a hospital was between £25,000 and £35,000. I ask that the Minister continue conversations across Government so that we can look at installation in hospitals.
I would like to ask the Minister to respond to five points. Will the Government look at introducing a new capital fund for older and smaller venues? Regulations that require a new stadium or shopping centre over a certain size to have a Changing Places toilet have been brought in. I am looking long and hard at finding a facility for a Changing Places toilet in Crayford, the secondary town in my constituency. The second largest Sainsbury’s in the country is in Crayford, so I am trying to work with Sainsbury’s to provide one there. In many town centres, hon. Members may be able to find a venue, but they cannot always find the funding.
Will the Minister work with the Changing Places consortium to upgrade facilities of the older standard, such as the one in the Members’ Lobby, to the current one? Will she commit to working with other Government Departments not only for hospitals, but for railway stations? The nationalisation of the railways presents us with a real opportunity to look at our larger railway stations. As we now have a Changing Places toilet at London Waterloo, I hope we will get one at London Charing Cross very soon. There are opportunities there for people’s travel options.
How are we monitoring larger planning applications under the regulations passed by the previous Government to ensure that the facilities are correctly installed and maintained? Will the Government continue to work with the Changing Places consortium on more modern software, so that we can have an app and make it easier for people to plan their journeys and identify where Changing Places toilets are located? I look forward to hearing colleagues’ contributions and the Minister’s comments on those points.
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I will do my best to keep standing—if nothing else, it will make me speak for a lot less time than I might otherwise, which will be a relief to everyone. I both congratulate the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) and thank him for securing this important debate. He speaks from personal experience, and he spoke very movingly and powerfully about the situation we are discussing today. I am grateful to him for giving us the opportunity to discuss this important topic.
Politics is often about addressing the great matters of state. We often talk about war and peace in this House. However, politics is also about making people’s everyday lives that little bit easier. One of the things all MPs discover is that we learn a lot from our constituents—certainly if those constituents are from Yorkshire, as the Chairman will appreciate. I was profoundly moved after a meeting I had with a group of my constituents in 2017. I had called in at the Dales School in Morton-on-Swale near Northallerton, and a group of parents of the most severely disabled children at the school wanted to talk to me. They told me about the difficulties they faced as families when they went out. and explained how a lack of suitable toilets and changing facilities meant that visiting the majority of leisure attractions and destinations across the country on a day out, which most families would take for granted, was nigh-on impossible for them.
I vividly remember one mum putting in front of me a magazine with all the events and attractions happening across the region in the summer holidays. She had gone through them and crossed out 99% because they did not have the facilities that her child required. As a parent myself, I looked at that list, saw all the places she had crossed out and realised that those were the very places I had taken my two young daughters to, to help them fall in love with Yorkshire after we first moved there. I reflected on the huge unfairness of that situation and how it compounded the difficulties that that family and many others faced—difficulties that most of us will never encounter—and how most of those places were just off limits for them. As I sat there, I felt that the situation was just not right.
Another parent, Andrew, spoke—similarly to the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford—of the physical difficulty and the indignity of having on occasion to change his 10-year-old daughter Aniela on rough ground behind a shed or on the dirty floor of a public bathroom, because those were the only places available to them in the circumstances. I admit that, going into my meeting with those parents, I had complacently assumed that we had largely resolved the issue of access to and provision of disabled toilets in this country. I had not realised, until I met and listened to them, that for young children or adults who require the help of a carer to use a toilet, a disabled toilet is not sufficient. They need a Changing Places facility with a bench, a hoist and a privacy screen.
After that meeting, I vowed to those parents that I would do whatever I could to raise and highlight the issue, which I began to do as a Back-Bench MP in Parliament. Fortuitously, a year later, I was lucky to be appointed Minister for Local Government. In that role, I was inspired by my predecessor as Member of Parliament for Richmond (Yorks), William Hague. As Minister for disabled people, which was one of his first ministerial jobs, he was instrumental in bringing into law, under John Major’s Government, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. That legislation enshrined in law the principle that institutions must make reasonable adjustments to ensure equality of opportunity for disabled people.
Twenty years after the introduction of the 1995 Act, I felt that we needed to renew that spirit to address the issue of Changing Places. As a junior Minister, I therefore set about changing building regulations to make it mandatory to install Changing Places facilities in new large public buildings such as shopping centres, cinemas and theme parks.
At about that time, I happened to meet Zack Kerr, a young campaigner with cerebral palsy—I am sure the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford knows him well. Zack told me then:
“Life can be difficult enough in many ways, but when there are no accessible toilet facilities where I can be hoisted safely from my wheelchair and changed in privacy and with dignity, I face the choice between staying at home or restricting my social life because of my needs...that’s just not fair.”
Zack rightly also pointed out the need for Changing Place facilities at motorway service stations, so that families could travel freely across the country. I am glad that, when the Conservatives were in Government, we made £4 million available not just to install Changing Places at motorway service stations, but to make a better start on installing them in NHS hospitals.
In 2020—fortuitously or not, depending on your point of view—I then became Chancellor of the Exchequer. In my first Budget, I launched the £30 million Changing Places fund, which match funded the cost of installing the toilets in existing buildings, where the need is, as we have heard, significant. I am delighted that over the subsequent years, the fund has made possible almost 500 different Changing Places facilities across the nation, including in Leyburn and at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes in my constituency.
As we have heard, more than 2,500 Changing Places are now installed across the country. We should take a moment to reflect that that is three times as many as there were a decade or so ago, when I first became aware of the issue. Now landmark attractions such as Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds and the Tower of London, as well as most Premier League stadiums and cinemas and shopping centres right across the country, all have that vital facility in place. Of course, the job is not done. We need more Changing Places facilities; almost a quarter of a million people rely on them.