Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to review the safety of multi-storey car parks, following the death of a 15-year-old boy in Liverpool.
Gabriel Santer died after falling from the top of a multi-storey car park in the city centre in October 2020.
The Prime Minister said he wanted to “prevent future tragedies”, and the Government will conduct a call for evidence on minimum barrier heights in car parks.
This came after Labour MP Peter Dowd urged Sir Keir to back his calls to increase the minimum required height of guarding.
Mr Dowd’s Multi-Storey Car Parks (Safety) Bill also proposes 24-hour staffing of such car parks, to improve safety.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Dowd, MP for Bootle said: “Gabe Santer, a 15-year-old, fell to his death from a multi-storey car park in Liverpool in 2020. He’s one of the many dying in such tragic circumstances, including in my constituency.
“My Multi-Storey Car Parks (Safety) Bill seeks to prevent such deaths.
“Will the Government look carefully at its content as part of a national suicide prevention strategy?”
The Prime Minister replied: “The answer is yes, we will look at the content of it, and I’m grateful to him for raising it.”
He added: “Across the House, we have all got tragic experience of suicide, and our thoughts are with Gabe’s family and with his friends.
“We will conduct a call for evidence on part K of the building regulations about minimum guarding heights, so that necessary protections are in place to prevent future tragedies. We will also look at the contents of the Bill.”
Defence minister Maria Eagle previously presented “Gabe’s Law” to Parliament in 2023, in a bid to reform the safety of car parks.
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