■■Last week,

Health Minister Edward Argar said the support to make free parking available could not continue indefinitely and added that the Government was looking at how long it would need to go on.

Responding on Friday to a written question from Labour’s Rachael Maskell, he said: “The provision of free parking for National Health Service staff by NHS trusts has not ended and nothing has changed since the announcement on March 25. However, free parking for staff has only been made possible by support from local authorities and independent providers and this support cannot continue indefinitely.”

Mr Argar said the Government wanted to be able to make good on its promise of free hospital parking for the disabled, frequent outpatient attendees, parents of sick children who were staying overnight and night shift workers.

In response to another question from Labour’s Zarah Sultana, Mr Argar said the Government was “considering how long free parking for NHS staff would need to continue, recognising that this has only been made possible by external support from local authorities and independent sector providers”.