§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that facilities provided for the changing and feeding of babies at motorway service areas can be used by male as well as female parents or carers.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyAt new motorway service areas we require a nursing mothers' room. Operators are not required by their leases to provide such facilities at older motorway service areas. Some already do so voluntarily and others will be encouraged to provide them when other alterations are being made.
Considerations of privacy, in particular for breast feeding, preclude any general sharing of such facilities by men looking after babies. We do not currently propose to require any separate provision for men. If demand builds up for this, we will reconsider the position in consultation with the operators.