What mechanisms his Department has put in place to ensure that communities are consulted on the use of Pride in Place funding in Derby North constituency.
Hansard · 23 Feb 2026 · parliament.uk
MF
Miatta Fahnbulleh
We are very clear that communities should be in the driving seat, which could happen through local people coming together in a neighbourhood board led by an independent chair from the community to develop a plan to invest £20 million in Pride in Place funding over the next decade. However, there is also an expectation …
MF
Miatta Fahnbulleh
My hon. Friend is completely right. Local people in Chaddesden West know what their priorities are and should therefore be in the driving seat. I thank her both for championing Pride in Place and for the work she is doing to make it a success. We have been very clear in the guidance that neighbourhood boards, which are…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
For me, the most exciting thing about the £20 million of Pride in Place funding for Chaddesden West in my constituency is that local people decide how it is spent. People in Chadd know their community better than anyone. I have already had some great suggestions, including creating opportunities for young people, tackl…
Household Energy Bills10 Feb 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Last year, I teamed up with the local Labour council cabinet member for the cost of living and my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) to launch a free local pension advice service, which has delivered over half a million pounds to eligible pensioners in Derby. It has helped with pension credit,… home heating tips, fire safety advice and utility deals, and has even provided free draught excluders and radiator insulators. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure people know about the support they can get to reduce household bills?
Hansard · 10 Feb 2026 · parliament.uk
DS
Desmond Swayne
What steps his Department is taking to reduce household energy bills.
CY
Claire Young
What steps he is taking to help reduce household energy bills.
AB
Aphra Brandreth
What steps he is taking to reduce energy bills.
EM
Ed Miliband
Bills are too high and the cost of living crisis is the biggest issue facing the country. That is why, at the last Budget, we took decisions to raise taxes on the wealthiest, which will enable us to take an average of £150 in costs off household energy bills from April. That builds on the fact that the price cap and av…
DS
Desmond Swayne
We were promised a reduction in bills of £300, but they have actually gone up by just shy of £200. The impact assessment of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2026, which we passed last week, states: “we estimate that cost-pass through for most sectors could feasibly be at 80-90%”. That is a …
Topical Questions5 Feb 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The beautiful River Derwent, which powered the early industrial revolution, flows through Derby and up to the Peak district. I have met local councils, MPs and our East Midlands Mayor as well as many local and regional organisations that agree that turning our existing rambling walks and cycle paths into a continuous river walk would… have massive health, economic and wellbeing benefits. Will the Minister please provide an update on establishing regional river walks?
Hansard · 5 Feb 2026 · parliament.uk
PH
Patrick Hurley
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
ER
Emma Reynolds
Since the last oral questions, we have published the animal welfare strategy, set out key reforms to the sustainable farming incentive, hosted the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services—the international panel on nature—in Manchester and published our water White Paper, setting…
PH
Patrick Hurley
As you will know, Mr Speaker, Southport is a lovely seaside resort and one of the nicest places to visit in the whole of the country, so what recent discussions has the Minister had with United Utilities about reducing sewage discharges, which affect Southport and the wider north-west coast?
ER
Emma Reynolds
The Water Minister and I are working closely with water companies across the country, including United Utilities, to drive them to reform their operations and clean up rivers, lakes and seas. Our water White Paper will replace the one-size-fits-all approach with dedicated supervisory teams at every company. UU is inves…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Protecting Young People Online4 Feb 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps her Department is taking to help protect young people online.
Hansard · 4 Feb 2026 · parliament.uk
JB
Jessica Brown-Fuller
What steps she is taking to help reduce social media harms for children under 16.
DB
Danny Beales
What steps her Department is taking to help protect young people online.
KN
Kanishka Narayan
With the groundbreaking steps in the Online Safety Act 2023, we are protecting children from illegal and harmful content online. The Secretary of State’s first step was to ensure that self-harm and suicide content were made priority offences. We have legislated to criminalise both the depiction of strangulation in porn…
JB
Jessica Brown-Fuller
The Online Safety Act was intended to protect children and teenagers from harmful social media content. The Molly Rose Foundation’s study found that, before the Act’s implementation, over a third of 13 to 17-year-olds had seen harmful content online, including self-harm, depression or eating disorder content. Young peo…
KN
Kanishka Narayan
I thank the hon. Lady for raising that important point. I have engaged deeply and frequently with the Molly Rose Foundation on this issue and wider concerns. We continue to ensure that the monitoring and evaluation of the Online Safety Act’s implementation is in progress—I am engaging regularly on that, and I am happy …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I have heard from many parents in Derby who want to know that their children are properly protected when they go online, not left exposed to harmful content or addictive design features. I have also spoken to many young people who are also concerned about what they face online. Can the Minister set out how, in addition…
Health Inequalities: Women28 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Earlier this month, Derby County Community Trust launched its “See you at your smear” campaign, encouraging women across the city to visit the pop-up cervical screening clinics that are in place until March. The trust does amazing work on women’s health. We know that increasing the uptake of smear tests is very important as, nationally,… one in three women are overdue. Will the Minister outline what work she is undertaking with the Health Secretary to improve smear test uptake?
Hansard · 28 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
MW
Max Wilkinson
What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to help tackle health inequalities affecting women.
CM
Calum Miller
What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to help tackle health inequalities affecting women.
KS
Karin Smyth
We are committed through our 10-year health plan to prioritising women’s health as we build an NHS that is fit for the future. That includes renewing the women’s health strategy, investing in research that addresses health inequalities and continuing to build on vital progress in women’s health.
MW
Max Wilkinson
I am grateful to the Health Minister for coming to the House today. She is aware of the case of Cheltenham general hospital and the Aveta birth centre, which four years ago under the previous Government was closed temporarily to labour and births. There is a national rapid review, which Gloucestershire is subject to, a…
KS
Karin Smyth
The hon. Member and I discussed this issue before he brought a debate on it to Westminster Hall, and I know that he has campaigned hard on it for local women. He raises an excellent point: we must ensure that what is happening on the ground with regard to maternity and the changes that people are proposing line up adeq…
Business Rates27 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
It is understandable that covid-era business rates support needs to come to an end, and the 15% cap on increases for most hospitality businesses is a really important protection. I particularly welcome the Government’s acknowledgment of the central role that pubs—such as the Paddock in Chaddesden, the White Swan in Littleover and so many more… across Derby—play in our communities. Will the Government continue to listen to and work with pubs, so that we can ensure they have certainty for the long term?
Hansard · 27 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
DT
Dan Tomlinson
This Government want the best for Britain’s high streets. We know how central they are to the strength and vibrancy of our villages, towns and cities. We know how hard small business owners work, and we know how badly they were let down by the previous Government; shops were shuttered, council funding was cut, and busi…
CN
Caroline Nokes
Order. I say very gently to the Minister that it was always open to him to ask for extra time, but we cannot find any record of him having done so. He has already got to 10 minutes, and he seems to have three more pages, so I will allow the Opposition spokespersons more time as well. This is an important statement, and…
DT
Dan Tomlinson
Let me apologise profusely for not letting you know in advance, Madam Deputy Speaker. This is the first time I have done one of these statements, and I will not make the same mistake again. I am glad that the same courtesy will be afforded to the shadow Chancellor, and I look forward to hearing a full 15 minutes of rem…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Order. This is not acceptable. I have to be quite honest, because the other Front Benchers need time to respond. When a statement is meant to take 10 minutes, that is meant to be 10 minutes. If Ministers tell me otherwise in advance, I am willing to work with them, but they cannot just carry on speaking. Minister, I ta…
DT
Dan Tomlinson
May I apologise, Mr Speaker, for not letting you know in advance that the statement would be running over 10 minutes?
Police Reform White Paper26 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Those responsible for organised crime, fraud and terrorism do not operate within the boundaries of local police forces, so I welcome a joined-up, national approach to those types of crime. However, residents in Derby also want more visible policing in our city centre and local communities, and that is what we have been working to… deliver. Can the Home Secretary tell us more about how the reforms will empower local forces to respond more effectively to everyday crime and antisocial behaviour?
Hansard · 26 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Before we start, it would be remiss of me not to say to the Home Secretary that although we have a statement now, I watched this all unfold yesterday and over the past few days. Whether it is the FBI or the merging of police forces, it really needs to be brought to the House before it is taken to the media. I say once …
SM
Shabana Mahmood
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on police reform. A little less than 200 years ago, speaking at this very Dispatch Box, Sir Robert Peel declared that: “the time is come, when…we may fairly pronounce that the country has outgrown her police institutions”.—[Official Report, 28 February 1828 ; Vol. 18…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
You did run slightly over, by over a minute, so I will give a little bit of leeway to the Opposition Front Benchers. I call the shadow Home Secretary.
CP
Chris Philp
I thank the Home Secretary for advance sight of her statement—especially after her busy weekend chairing the national executive committee, which excluded Andy Burnham from returning to Parliament. Anyway, the Home Secretary’s statement—[Interruption.] There seems to be some concern from the Benches behind her on that. …
SM
Shabana Mahmood
Dear me! I will take no lectures on policing from the Conservatives. They had 14 years in government and delivered no meaningful change beyond decimating neighbourhood policing, introducing the failed experiment of police and crime commissioners, and sweeping away meaningful targets to hold our police forces to account…
Business of the House22 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
This week, I met 19-year-old Jack Billingham, a third-year Derby Rolls-Royce apprentice who won gold at the national welding championships in November and who is representing the UK at the WorldSkills international competition in Japan. I had a go at virtual-reality welding, and I admit that Jack’s score was a little higher than mine. At… a time when the UK faces a national shortage of welders and of those with other critical manufacturing skills, could we have a debate on how we can strengthen the skills pipeline and support apprenticeships for good, skilled British manufacturing jobs?
Hansard · 22 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
AC
Alan Campbell
The business for the week commencing 26 January will include: Monday 26 January —Second Reading of the Armed Forces Bill. Tuesday 27 January —Consideration of an allocation of time motion, followed by all stages of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill. Wednesday 28 January —Opposition day (16th allotted day). Deb…
JN
Jesse Norman
I thank the Leader of the House for that update. The House will know that I am obsessive about improving education, skills and life opportunities for young people; I know that the Leader of the House, with his own background, shares that passion. I cannot let this week pass without noting that on Tuesday our new specia…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I am going to speak first. I want temperate language, and I am sure you would love to withdraw that little message you had for us.
JN
Jesse Norman
I thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to exercise my quadriceps on several occasions. Yes, of course I unhesitatingly withdraw that appalling term from the record. All this, I should say, comes from the hon. Member for Clacton after a lifetime spent denouncing Davos as a hub of evil globalist elites where, in his wo…
Water White Paper21 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I have seen at first hand the brilliant work that the volunteers of the Earl of Harrington’s angling club and the Midland canoe club do to test water quality and to clear up and look after our waterways, including our beautiful River Derwent. How will the action that this Government are taking ensure that river… pollution and sewage are tackled, and not left to volunteers to clear up, while also bringing down water bills?
Hansard · 21 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
ER
Emma Reynolds
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the publication of the Government’s water White Paper, “A New Vision for Water”. The paper sets out once-in-a-generation reforms, putting consumers and the environment first and building a water system fit for the future. For too long, the last …
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
VA
Victoria Atkins
I thank the Secretary of State for an advance copy of her statement. Indeed, I welcome the Secretary of State to the Chamber. It is not often that she puts in an appearance, from the publication of the Minette Batters report to the animal welfare strategy, which was published two days before Christmas eve, to the famil…
ER
Emma Reynolds
Oh my gosh! Well, I say to the right hon. Lady that I will not take any lectures from the Conservative party. Not only can they not be bothered to turn up for the statement, which shows an absolute disregard for the concerns of the public about the levels of pollution in our waterways—[Interruption.] I will answer her …
JN
Josh Newbury
I welcome the White Paper because customers right across the country have been failed by their water company, and all too often, when turning to Ofwat for support and to hold executives to account, they have been met with bureaucracy and a weak response. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the creation of a new co…
After Clause 19 - Court transcripts of sentencing remarks20 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In government, the Conservative party oversaw a disastrous privatisation of probation, which ended in a £500 million bail-out by taxpayers. Our Probation Service plays a critical role in the rehabilitation of offenders and in keeping our communities safe, so can the Minister further set out how the Bill will ensure that our probation systems are… strengthened and fit for purpose?
Hansard · 20 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
JR
Jake Richards
I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 7.
CN
Caroline Nokes
With this it will be convenient to discuss: Government amendments (a) and (b) in lieu of Lords amendment 7. Lords amendments 1 to 6 and 8 to 15.
JR
Jake Richards
I begin by putting on record the Government’s welcoming of the new shadow Justice Secretary, the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) , to his job. We look forward to working with him; he is somebody of some intellectual heft, and in any event, he is in the lucky position of having extraordinarily small shoes to…
CV
Christopher Vince
The Minister is making a powerful speech. He will recognise that the Bill is of huge concern to residents in my constituency, because many victims of crime who are waiting for justice to be served are waiting years for the person responsible to face trial. Does the Minister agree that it is really important that this G…
JR
Jake Richards
Absolutely. My hon. Friend is a fine champion of this agenda and for his constituents in Harlow, and as he knows, the Bill does more than just fix the crisis we inherited; it will confront reoffending and keep our communities safe. As my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister set out during the very first debate o…
Topical Questions15 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
Hansard · 15 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
LN
Lisa Nandy
The Government are determined to fight for all the British people. Since we last met, my Department has been delighted to introduce the first national youth strategy in a generation, ending the violent indifference we saw under the last Government, and to launch the town of culture competition, because culture is every…
LN
Lisa Nandy
I congratulate my hon. Friend on her role in securing planning permission for those new facilities. Those places stand in the centre of our communities as a shining symbol of how much we value our young people and the communities in which they serve. I would be delighted to work with her to make sure that we continue t…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
NH
Nigel Huddleston
The Secretary of State will be aware of concerns across the culture, media and sport sectors about the 14-day cooling-off period in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. It could be exploited to allow people to sign up for an annual membership of a heritage, arts or cultural institution, visit the si…
LN
Lisa Nandy
The shadow Secretary of State will be aware that the Department for Business and Trade has been consulting on this issue, which is significant for many organisations, and the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts held a roundtable about it recently. The Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth is…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In October, I shared that the Stockbrook Colts, a local grassroots football club for over 250 children, had to stop play because its pitch was unusable. I am pleased to report that Stockbrook Park now has planning permission for a new play zone, with a football pitch and floodlighting. Will the Secretary of State join …
Business of the House15 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The temporary bridge at Darley Abbey Mills was forced to close before Christmas due to sudden riverbank deterioration. No one is legally liable for the old bridge, and despite not owning it, the council built a temporary one in 2022 and is assessing whether it can be safely reopened. Our East Midlands Mayor has funded… work to explore plans for a new bridge, but in the meantime, businesses have lost vital footfall and residents are worried about being cut off entirely if there is flooding. I have had many local meetings, but could the Leader of the House advise me on the best way to seek additional Government support when no one is liable for essential infrastructure, such as Darley Abbey bridge?
Hansard · 15 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
AC
Alan Campbell
The business for the week commencing 19 January will include: Monday 19 January —Remaining stages of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill. Tuesday 20 January —Consideration of Lords amendments to the Sentencing Bill, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Holocaust Memorial Bill, followed by considerat…
JN
Jesse Norman
I thank the Leader of the House for the clarity he has given us on the business of the House, and in particular for the rescheduling of the Diego Garcia Bill immediately after it was going to be debated, following the changes made to the Hillsborough law. I know the whole House will want to join me in expressing our co…
AC
Alan Campbell
I certainly join the shadow Leader of the House in sending our thoughts to the people of Iran and the region at this very difficult time. I also send our congratulations to Lord Forsyth, who was announced as the new Lord Speaker earlier this week, and I pay tribute to Lord McFall, the outgoing Lord Speaker, for his ser…
MH
Meg Hillier
I am sure that, like me and others, the Leader of the House will be pleased to learn that NHS waiting lists continue to drop. I am also sure he will agree that Homerton hospital, which has seen productivity on operations increase by more than 11% year on year, is a beacon of what can be done. I hope he will join me in …
Topical Questions12 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Hundreds of new homes are being built at the Friar Gate goods yard, originally a 19th-century rail depot. This development is near the city centre, but other housing that was built further out under the Conservatives went up with inadequate transport infrastructure and little thought for public transport. What is being done to ensure that… new homes have the transport infrastructure that they need?
Hansard · 12 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
PP
Peter Prinsley
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
SR
Steve Reed
House building in this country ground to a near halt in 2023 because the previous Government failed to reform our planning system, despite knowing that it is too slow and cumbersome and deters development. Our Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December last year. It delivers fundamental r…
PP
Peter Prinsley
I am concerned about the villages in my most beautiful constituency of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket; there, people tell me that they are increasingly concerned about the lack of affordable housing in rural communities. What steps is the Minister taking to increase the supply of affordable housing for local people in …
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Order. Can I just remind everyone that this is topicals? You are meant to set an example, Peter—come on.
SR
Steve Reed
Our planning changes will support affordable rural housing by giving rural authorities greater flexibility to require affordable housing on smaller sites. Our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme, which opens to bids next month, is available to rural authorities as well.
Passenger Rail Services8 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I met East Midlands Railways to give the new ticketless travel app it is trialling a go. It is exciting new tech that will ensure passengers always pay the best price for travel. EMR says that that system should save passengers money and, with capped prices, will mean cheaper fares. Does the Minister agree that… alongside the freezing of rail fares, innovation such as this could make a real difference to passengers’ experience and to their pockets?
Hansard · 8 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
CY
Claire Young
What steps she is taking to improve railway services for passengers.
CT
Cameron Thomas
What steps she is taking to improve railway services for passengers.
DR
Dave Robertson
What steps she is taking to improve passenger rail services.
KM
Keir Mather
Good morning, Mr Speaker. Following a decade of decline, we are starting to see train reliability stabilise. We are working with the rail industry on a performance restoration framework, with five clear areas of focus, in order to return performance to acceptable levels. More broadly, we are nationalising the railways …
CY
Claire Young
The west of England growth strategy identifies the Severn estuary growth zone as having the potential to create more than 15,000 jobs. It is important that the half-hourly rail services on the Severn Beach line are maintained to support them. Similarly, the half-hourly trains serving Yate support both jobs and access t…
Business of the House8 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I recently visited Derby athletic club and met volunteers including Ernie, who is 100 years old and has been volunteering for more than 70 years. I know that Ernie doesn’t like a fuss, but will the Leader of the House join me in thanking Ernie for his incredible commitment, and will he consider how we… might best celebrate the work of volunteers in grassroots sport across the country?
Hansard · 8 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
JL
John Lamont
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
AC
Alan Campbell
The business for the week commencing 12 January includes: Monday 12 January —Committee of the whole House of the Finance (No. 2) Bill (day 1). Tuesday 13 January —Committee of the whole House of the Finance (No. 2) Bill (day 2). Wednesday 14 January —Remaining stages of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill. Thursday…
JL
John Lamont
Mr Speaker, may I begin by wishing you, the Leader of the House, right hon. and hon. Members and all staff of the House a very happy new year? I appreciate that the Leader of the House may still be recovering from the excesses of the festive season, so I will try not to add unduly to his discomfort, but I will start wi…
AC
Alan Campbell
I wish you, Mr Speaker, and everyone across the House a happy new year. I congratulate parliamentarians past and present who were recognised in the new year’s honours. It is right and proper that people who make an exemplary contribution to public service are recognised, like so many others across our country. I was sa…
BG
Barry Gardiner
Happy new year to you, Mr Speaker. Delays in the court system mean that one of my constituents has been in prison on remand awaiting trial for over a year. She is in New Hall Prison, 200 miles away from her mother, who is disabled and cannot make that journey. She has requested a transfer to Bronzefield Prison, so her …
Jury Trials7 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Does my hon. Friend agree that it is really frustrating to hear people say that the backlog is the result of covid, when it is clear that backlogs were increasing before covid as a result of underlying factors including substantial real-terms cuts to the justice system, court closures and reductions in judges and court staff?… They began rising in 2019, the same year that the previous Government cut sitting days.
Hansard · 7 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I inform the House that I have selected the amendment tabled in the name of the Prime Minister. I call the shadow Secretary of State.
RJ
Robert Jenrick
I beg to move, That this House believes that it is wrong to abolish jury trials for crimes with anticipated sentences of three years or less because jury trials are a fundamental part of the UK constitution and democracy; acknowledges the scale of the courts backlog and the necessity of reducing it to ensure justice fo…
CV
Christopher Vince
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way; he is always generous with his time. He talks about the length of time it takes for victims to get justice. I speak to police officers in my constituency all the time who say that one of the issues with the backlog, this waiting list, is that people who have been po…
RJ
Robert Jenrick
I do. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. It is shameful to our country that victims of serious crimes like rape will have to wait until 2028 or 2029. In fact, I believe the longest listing hence today is 2030. No one in this Chamber could possibly defend that for one moment, but will this policy make a material di…
DS
Desmond Swayne
As my right hon. Friend squares up to lead civil society in a battle against this monstrous measure, may I ask him to have some sympathy for Labour Members, who are about to be led to the top of the hill once again, as they were with the farm tax and the winter fuel allowance, on a measure that simply will not deliver …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Is there a part of the hon. Gentleman’s speech where he says that the reason that so many of our courts are dilapidated and falling down is because we did not see investment in 14 years of Conservative Government?
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I wanted to be a barrister from when I was a child. I did not know any lawyers, and I think I got most of my ideas about what lawyers did from TV shows, but jury trials is what I wanted to do. Some of my most memorable moments as a barrister were prosecuting and defending in front of juries, so I get the importance of …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
There are a huge number of additional measures that will be rolled out, and I look forward to continuing to engage with Justice Ministers on other measures that I believe will help. We have more coming after the next stage of the Leveson review. We need bold action to ensure justice for victims across the country—and n…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Will my hon. Friend consider how Conservative Governments were wrong to reduce the number of types of offences heard by juries? Does he agree that it is absolutely necessary to see some modernisation, acknowledging that criminal trials and the evidence presented in those trials has changed over the years?
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In the light of the shadow Minister’s comments about sitting days, does he condemn the Conservative cut of nearly 15% of sitting days in 2019 and congratulate this Labour Government on increasing the number of sitting days?
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In light of the shadow Minister’s comments, does he think it was wrong of the then Conservative Government, through the Criminal Justice Act 1988, to make offences such as criminal damage and common assault summary only, removing juries for those offences?
HMP Leyhill: Offender Abscondments5 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
When we see offenders abscond from prison, it is understandable that many people feel unsafe. Our thoughts are particularly with the victims and their friends and families. Does the Minister agree that absconding is not only a serious criminal offence, but a symptom of years of austerity and chronic underfunding that saw our prison system… pushed to breaking point?
Hansard · 5 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
NG
Nusrat Ghani
Order. Before we come to the urgent question on absconded prisoners, I should inform the House that one of the prisoners has been charged with escaping from lawful custody and the matter is now sub judice. Members should therefore avoid references to the specific circumstances of the individual case. Questions on the b…
RJ
Robert Jenrick
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will make a statement on the implications for public safety following the admission that two dangerous offenders, including a convicted murderer, absconded from HMP Leyhill on new year’s day.
AD
Alex Davies-Jones
A happy new year to you and to all in the House, Madam Deputy Speaker. On 1 January 2026 , three prisoners absconded from HMP Leyhill, an open prison: Mr Thomas, Mr Washbourne and Mr Armstrong. This was discovered during routine roll checks, and their absence was followed up immediately. On 3 January , the police issue…
RJ
Robert Jenrick
So a murderer is on the loose—a murderer and a violent offender. Once again, the Justice Secretary’s strongest ever checks have been a resounding failure, and once again there is a manhunt under way. Precious police resources are being wasted to fix Calamity’s latest cock-up. And where is the Justice Secretary? The Min…
AD
Alex Davies-Jones
I am afraid that it is a new year but the same sad, old Jenrick. The right hon. Gentleman clearly has not done his homework. He does not seem to know the difference between releases in error and absconds. This is a Member who wants to be the Lord Chancellor and the next Leader of the Opposition, and he is deliberately …
Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention5 Jan 2026
CA
Catherine Atkinson
This Christmas, the Government funded travel for up to 35,000 service personnel—including over 2,000 from the east midlands—so that they could be with their family over the festive period. My husband served in Afghanistan, so I know how much it means to have those moments with loved ones. Does the Minister agree that that kind… of support demonstrates that our Labour Government are on the side of our armed forces?
Hansard · 5 Jan 2026 · parliament.uk
JC
James Cartlidge
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the impact of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill on armed forces recruitment and retention.
AC
Alistair Carns
This Labour Government are committed to renewing the contract with those who serve, and our commitment is reflected in our actions. That is why we have given our armed forces the largest pay rise in 20 years, committed to invest £9 billion to fix forces homes, scrapped 100 out-of-date medical policies for entry standar…
JC
James Cartlidge
Our legacy Act ensured that those who served bravely in Northern Ireland could sleep soundly in their beds at night, knowing that they would not be hauled before the courts for protecting all of us from terrorism decades ago. But when our Act was challenged in the courts, instead of appealing, Labour immediately caved …
AC
Alistair Carns
As the shadow Defence Secretary has raised a question about recruitment and retention, it is important that we look at the record of his own Government. Military morale fell to record lows under his Government, with just four in 10 personnel in the UK armed forces satisfied with service life; satisfaction fell from 60%…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the Chair of the Defence Committee.
Planning Reform16 Dec 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Under the previous Conservative Government, there was significant building in Mickleover in Derby, yet the GP surgery that was promised alongside that development never materialised. Can the Minister outline how the Government’s new clearer planning policies, particularly on where development should take place, will ensure that future growth is genuinely sustainable and properly linked to… the delivery of GP provision and other essential services and infrastructure?
Hansard · 16 Dec 2025 · parliament.uk
MP
Matthew Pennycook
With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the Government’s ongoing efforts to overhaul the planning system. As the House is fully aware, England remains in the grip of an acute and entrenched housing crisis. It is a crisis, first and foremost, that is blighting countless lives, not least th…
GB
Gareth Bacon
I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. This Labour Government’s last planning framework began pushing development on to rural areas, prioritising concreting over the green belt and green fields rather than focusing on supporting building in urban areas, which is where we need to build most. From what …
MP
Matthew Pennycook
I thank the shadow Minister for his questions. I appreciate that he has not had a huge amount of time to look over today’s announcement, but he has completely misunderstood one of the primary thrusts of the changes we are making, which is to double down on a brownfield-first approach. Through the draft framework, we ar…
CN
Caroline Nokes
I call the Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.
FE
Florence Eshalomi
I thank the Minister for his statement. I commend him for his work on bringing the planning system up to date, which can be quite a technical process, and on the landmark Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will receive Royal Assent later this month. I welcome the fact that the Minister has listened to many people …
Business of the House11 Dec 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I put on record my thanks to Mr Speaker for hosting a fantastic celebration of deaf talent and achievement in Speaker’s House last month, with deaf role models including Tasha Ghouri. It was an honour to help organise it when I was chair of the all-party parliamentary group on deafness, supported by charities including the… Royal National Institute for Deaf People and SignHealth. The International Day of Persons with Disabilities was last week, but every single day must be an opportunity to break down barriers. Does the Leader of the House agree that deafness should never be a barrier to a successful career, and can we have a debate on widening opportunity for disabled people across every sector?
Hansard · 11 Dec 2025 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
AC
Alan Campbell
The business for the week commencing 15 December will include: Monday 15 December —Consideration of a Lords message to the Employment Rights Bill, followed by Second Reading of the Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill. Tuesday 16 December —Second Reading of the Finance (No. 2) Bill. Wednesday 17 December —I…
JN
Jesse Norman
A key theme of business questions has been the need for the Government and, indeed, the whole country to be resolute in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine. In that context, I know the whole House will want to join me again in expressing our profound sorrow for the death of Lance Corporal George Hooley of the Par…
AC
Alan Campbell
First, I join the shadow Leader of the House in sending our condolences to the friends and family of Lance Corporal Hooley, who died while serving our country and in the cause of keeping the flame of freedom alive. As we approach Christmas, I want to recognise the contribution that charities make across our country. Ho…
SN
Samantha Niblett
At one second past midnight tonight, the race for the Christmas No. 1 begins. My constituent Andrew Horth, of HorthWorld, will be in that race, with his incredible Christmas song “Merry Christmas (Make Amends)”, which was written in support of men’s mental health in the wake of our having lost Mikey Heald, another cons…
Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry9 Dec 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I welcome the Home Secretary’s focus on victims and survivors, and her commitment that they will remain at the forefront of the inquiry’s approach. Will she also ensure that the findings and recommendations of previous inquiries and investigations are implemented so that the voices of victims who have already shared their horrific stories are never… forgotten?
Hansard · 9 Dec 2025 · parliament.uk
JC
Judith Cummins
Before I call the Home Secretary to make the statement, I remind hon. Members that they should not refer to any specific cases currently before the courts, and that they should exercise caution with respect to any specific cases that might subsequently come before the courts, in order not to prejudice those proceedings…
SM
Shabana Mahmood
With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the independent inquiry into grooming gangs, the appointment of its chair and panel, and the inquiry’s terms of reference. I know that, for many, this day is long overdue. For years, the victims of these awful crimes were ignored. First abused by vi…
JC
Judith Cummins
I call the shadow Home Secretary.
CP
Chris Philp
Let us remember that victims are at the heart of this. Young girls, some only 10 years old, were groomed and gang raped by men of mainly Pakistani origin—girls like Jane, who was just 12 years old when she was raped by an illegal immigrant; when she was found by police, instead of arresting the rapist, they arrested Ja…
SM
Shabana Mahmood
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for his remarks. He read out excerpts from some of the court transcripts that have been made public, and like other hon. Members, I have read some of them as well. They make for truly horrifying reading. They are the starkest reminder, for everyone in this House and beyond, that it…
Railways Bill9 Dec 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The Railways Bill represents a promise made and a promise delivered to set up Great British Railways, with its headquarters in Derby. Will the Secretary of State tell us more about how GBR will work together with our UK rail supply chain to ensure that we have the jobs, skills and growth needed to deliver… a railway fit for Britain’s future?
Hansard · 9 Dec 2025 · parliament.uk
CN
Caroline Nokes
The reasoned amendment in the name of Mr Richard Holden has been selected.
HA
Heidi Alexander
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Two centuries ago, the first passenger railway services to run in the UK symbolised the hope and ambition of a confident nation, yet today that same railway symbolises something rather different. Every cancelled service, every cramped carriage and every dodgy wi-f…
MW
Munira Wilson
The Secretary of State is extolling the virtues of nationalisation. South Western Railway, which serves my constituents across Teddington, Twickenham, Hampton and Whitton, was nationalised earlier this year. We have only seen the service get worse and worse, with delays, cancellations and short-form trains leading to o…
HA
Heidi Alexander
The hon. Lady is right to say that South Western Railway had a difficult few months after it came into public ownership, but the problems that it is experiencing were inherited from the private sector operator. The number of new Arterio trains on the South Western Railway network has quadrupled since the train operatin…
JT
Jessica Toale
I thank the Secretary of State for joining me at Branksome depot in my constituency to launch Great British Railways. It was welcomed by engineers, passengers, railway operators and local schools. I have a very different experience from that of the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) , so will my right hon. Frie…
Criminal Court Reform2 Dec 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Victims are waiting for years for their cases to go to trial. Christmas after Christmas, they are unable to heal or move on. The backlog of cases is now a record 78,000, and it was growing under the Conservative Government before the covid pandemic. Does the Secretary of State find the hypocrisy and faux outrage… of the Conservative Opposition as galling as I do, given that reform is needed to clear up the mess that they made of our criminal justice system?
Hansard · 2 Dec 2025 · parliament.uk
DL
David Lammy
With your permission, Mr Speaker I will make a statement on criminal court reform. As the House is aware, the first part of the independent review of criminal courts was published in July. I am grateful to its chair, Sir Brian Leveson—one of the foremost judges of his generation—and to his expert advisers, Professor Da…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Justice Secretary.
RJ
Robert Jenrick
I am glad to see that the Justice Secretary has finally come into work today. When 12 prisoners were mistakenly released after the introduction of his brilliant new checks, he did not bother to come to Parliament to inform the country; then, when I asked his Department whether it is paying compensation to terrorists in…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Order. I wanted, quite rightly, the Justice Secretary to be heard without comment from Opposition Front Benchers, and I certainly expect the same from Government Front Benchers in return.
RJ
Robert Jenrick
Thank you, Mr Speaker. This morning, more than 50 Crown courtrooms sit empty in England alone. In fact, over 21,000 court days have gone unused this year. Why? Not because there are too many juries, but because the Justice Secretary will not fund the sitting days. Had he done so, the backlog would have shrunk by up to …
G20 and Ukraine25 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Trains, planes and submarines—the Prime Minister put the pride of Derby manufacturing front and centre at this G20. Millions saw him halfway around the world in Johannesburg on a train made in Derby, showing the world what our city is famous for. Will he tell us more about what the deals he has secured mean… for my constituents who work at Rolls-Royce and in the rail sector? Will he continue his focus on winning international deals for more high-productivity, high-skills and high-wage jobs?
Hansard · 25 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
KS
Keir Starmer
With permission, I will update the House on my recent international engagements and our work to strengthen the security of our continent and economy, starting with the situation in Ukraine, which is at the forefront of all our minds. Over recent days, I have had detailed discussions with allies; I met our partners in t…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Leader of the Opposition.
KB
Kemi Badenoch
I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement. We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and our support remains unwavering. Ukraine is battling the most flagrant breach of territorial integrity in Europe in recent times. We must never forget that the war was started by Putin, who is tryin…
KS
Keir Starmer
May I start by thanking the right hon. Lady for her support on Ukraine? It is really important that we stay united in this House. I readily acknowledge the role of the previous Government in leading on Ukraine and in bringing the whole House together on this issue, which they did for a number of years. This allowed us …
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa17 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
There will be good, well-paying jobs at Rolls-Royce in Derby to get these reactors built. That will not just benefit those doing those jobs, but power up the local economy, putting money in the tills of shops, restaurants and pubs. There is huge pride in knowing the crucial roles being played in powering Britain with… clean energy. Will the Minister tell us more about the work being done to maximise the extra jobs and prosperity that will be delivered in Derby, Warrington, Wylfa and other sites as a result of this Labour Government’s investment in this historic project?
Hansard · 17 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
LM
Llinos Medi
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero if he will make a statement on the development of the UK’s first small modular nuclear reactor power station at Wylfa.
MS
Michael Shanks
I welcome the hon. Lady’s commitment to securing a new nuclear project in her constituency. She and I have had a number of discussions about nuclear power and other energy projects. Nuclear energy provides the stable low-carbon baseload we need to keep the lights on and to support our economy. It is central to our clea…
LM
Llinos Medi
Diolch yn fawr, Llefarydd, for granting the urgent question. Last week’s announcement that nuclear power will return to Wylfa is hugely welcome. I am pleased that the Government have backed the site. As I have mentioned several times in this Chamber, Wylfa is recognised as the best site in Europe. May I pay tribute to …
MS
Michael Shanks
The hon. Lady is right that the community in Ynys Môn faced a number of false starts under the previous Government. This is an historic opportunity—a huge moment—as the project moves forward with tangible timelines in place and the £2.5 billion that she mentioned. Rolls-Royce is taking forward three SMRs initially, but…
LC
Lizzi Collinge
My constituency hosts Heysham 1 and 2 nuclear power stations, and provides the cleanest energy of any UK constituency, so obviously I am keen that Heysham continues to be part of our golden nuclear future. Is the Minister, like me, eagerly awaiting the report of the regulatory review—particularly on the outdated semi-u…
Littering13 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps she has taken to help tackle littering.
Hansard · 13 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
MC
Mary Creagh
The Government will clean up Britain and end the throwaway society. That is why we banned the sale of single-use vapes earlier this year and why our forthcoming deposit return scheme will drastically reduce the littering of single-use cans and bottles. We are also supporting councils by bringing forward new guidance, i…
MC
Mary Creagh
I commend my hon. Friend’s constituents for their important work, particularly Derby city council’s Streetpride champions. Their work is supported by this Government, who are committed to helping councils to do more: seizing and crushing the vehicles of fly-tippers; forcing fly-tippers to clear up their own mess; and b…
CM
Calum Miller
Criminals have dumped a mountain of illegal plastic waste, 20 feet high and weighing hundreds of tonnes, in my constituency on the floodplain adjacent to the River Cherwell. River levels are rising and heat maps show that the waste is heating up, raising the risk of fire. The Environment Agency says that it has limited…
MC
Mary Creagh
We inherited a whole system failure in the waste industry, from end to end with failures at every level. That is why there has been an epidemic of illegal fly-tipping. It is now the work of serious and organised crime. We have a waste crime unit that has undertaken in the last financial year—[Interruption.] If Conserva…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In Derby, we are lucky to have fantastic community groups who take real pride in keeping our city clean, such as Friends of Littleover Parks, the New Zealand Community Association, and the Ashbourne Road Methodist church A2C kids club, where even our youngest residents do their bit. But their great work is too often un…
Business of the House13 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I was pleased to attend the opening of new mental health facilities at Kingsway hospital in Derby. It marks a huge step forward in the care available for local people, and gives patients greater dignity, privacy, and the support of the surroundings that they need on their journey to recovery. Will the Leader of the… House join me in congratulating all those involved in delivering that fantastic project, and will he find time for a debate on how we can continue to improve mental health provision across the country, particularly for adults requiring acute care?
Hansard · 13 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
AC
Alan Campbell
The business for the week commencing 17 November will include: Monday 17 November —Committee of the whole House and remaining stages of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill. Tuesday 18 November —Second Reading of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill. Wednesday 19 November —Consideration of Lords amendments …
JN
Jesse Norman
I am sure I speak for many Members when I thank you, Mr Speaker, and the whole of the Speaker’s Office for the work you have put in to make this past week of remembrance so memorable. The gardens of remembrance, the projection of images from the second world war on to the Elizabeth Tower, the wreath laying in Westminst…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Leader of the House.
AC
Alan Campbell
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker—[Interruption.] Mr Speaker, sorry. It is very early in the day. I thank the shadow Leader of the House for his remarks. I join him in thanking you, Mr Speaker, and indeed all House staff, for this week’s work on remembrance events, which provide an opportunity for us, not just as a House bu…
Probation Service11 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The Probation Service plays a vital role in our justice system, and is integral to ensuring that community sentences are effective and that our communities are kept safe. The Conservatives’ part-privatisation reforms were disastrous for our Probation Service. What are this Government doing to ensure that our probation officers are properly supported in carrying out… their vital jobs?
Hansard · 11 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
IS
Ian Sollom
What steps he is taking to support the Probation Service.
DL
David Lammy
We are determined to back our hard-working probation staff by investing up to £700 million by the final year of the spending review and investing an initial £8 million in new technologies to reduce administrative burdens. We will also recruit 1,300 trainee probation officers in 2025-26, in addition to the more than 1,0…
IS
Ian Sollom
In July 2024, inspectors rated Cambridgeshire and Peterborough probation service inadequate, with major leadership failures and child safeguarding assessed as adequate in just 28% of cases. The action plan committed to increasing probation officer staffing by 87% by March 2026, but the National Audit Office has now rev…
DL
David Lammy
Cambridgeshire is a part of the country that I know well, having spent seven years of my life in Peterborough. I will look closely at this issue, and I will ask the Prisons Minister to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss how we move forward.
DL
David Lammy
My hon. Friend is exactly right. The decisions that were made under the last Government by the then Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, were catastrophic for a wonderful service, and we are now in the business of rebuilding the Probation Service. I have been very pleased to visit probation workers in Chatham, Kent, and …
Prisoner Releases in Error11 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The Government inherited a prison system so weakened by austerity, but it was also overcrowded by a justice system that failed to look at rehabilitation as well as punishment. Will the Secretary of State redouble the Department’s efforts to match employers who want to give prisoners a chance to learn skills and the habit of… work with the opportunity to do so while serving their sentences and afterwards, so that we can ensure that our communities are safer because we rehabilitate as well as punish?
Hansard · 11 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
DL
David Lammy
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on releases in error from prison. On Armistice Day, let me begin by paying tribute to those we honour: Members of both Houses and parliamentary staff who gave their tomorrow for our today. Whatever divides our politics, today we remember what binds us together: our …
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Can I just clear something up, which does not have to happen? First of all, I was told that the Justice Secretary needed 13 minutes. [Interruption.] Bear with me. I said, “You will need to ask,” and in the end, the Department came back and said, “Oh no, it’s 10 minutes.” That statement was not 10 minutes; it was almost…
RJ
Robert Jenrick
So we are back here again. At least the Justice Secretary is getting some use out of his new suit. But where has Wednesday’s bombast and bravado gone? “Get a grip, man!”, he thundered last week, without even a hint of irony. There was none of that today, was there? Why is that? It is because, like increasing numbers of…
DL
David Lammy
This is a crisis that we inherited in our prison system. [Interruption.] That is worthy of sober reflection, because the shadow Justice Secretary knows that when the Conservatives were in government, 17 prisoners were released in error every month. He knows that. A former Conservative Justice Secretary said in respect …
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Justice Committee.
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces11 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Support for our veterans is essential. I am proud that the Royal British Legion is growing in Derby. Will the Minister join me in wishing good luck to those who have set up a new branch in Mackworth? Does he agree that this Government’s veterans strategy, including the £13.8 million to address homelessness, shows that… we are marching in step with those who campaign for veterans?
Hansard · 11 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
AC
Alistair Carns
I beg to move, That this House has considered Remembrance and the contribution of the armed forces. On Sunday, His Majesty the King led the nation in commemorating generations of men and women who served, fought and, in many cases, did not return home. About 10,000 veterans gathered at the Cenotaph on Whitehall to obse…
AC
Alistair Carns
I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution, and I definitely wish good luck to the RBL on expanding its portfolio, which is fantastic. I hear that the Derbyshire RBL has raised the most of any RBL in the country.
AJ
Adam Jogee
On that point, will the Minister give way?
AC
Alistair Carns
Let me finish my point, and then my hon. Friend can jump in. I put on record my personal thanks to the Royal British Legion for its work on the poppy appeal this year, and every year. I am sure that hon. Members across the House echo that appreciation and I look forward to hearing their contributions to the debate. 202…
AJ
Adam Jogee
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. In the interests of peace and togetherness, I will not take it personally that he chose to take an intervention earlier from my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) , whose constituency is in the east midlands, rather than from me, whose constituency …
Public Office (Accountability) Bill3 Nov 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I pay tribute to the families of victims, and to the campaigners who have fought for decades, following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, for this legislation. They have fought to prevent state cover-ups such as the one that they experienced. In the years since Hillsborough, far too many other families have not only endured the… grief of losing people they loved, but had their grief compounded by injustice. Instead of answers, they got obstruction and obfuscation.
Hansard · 3 Nov 2025 · parliament.uk
KS
Keir Starmer
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Before I come to the Bill, I put on record in this House my own tribute to the police, to the first responders and in particular to the heroic actions of the driver and members of staff on board the Doncaster to London train, where such a vile and horrific attack …
AS
Andrew Slaughter
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that a couple of things are missing from this otherwise excellent Bill? The first is an acknowledgment of the role that the media played in covering up many of the wrongs that happened, and the second is a national oversight mechanism which would ensure that when recommendati…
KS
Keir Starmer
I am grateful for that intervention. Of course we must acknowledge the role that the media and others played in this—it was a cover-up at so many levels. As for an oversight mechanism, I do not think that the Bill is the place for it, but I do agree with the proposition that when there are inquiries, there needs to be …
JA
Jim Allister
The Prime Minister has listed a litany of scandals where there have been cover-ups. Will he reflect on including the Chinook disaster, in respect of which there have been repeated attempts to cover up the truth—the state of the aircraft that was sent out that night, in which we lost so many valued members of our intell…
KS
Keir Starmer
I thank the hon. and learned Gentleman for raising that. This Bill is obviously intended to deal with all the situations in which there needs to be a duty of candour, with consequences if that is not adhered to.
CA
Catherine Atkinson
My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. There are still so many families fighting for justice, and the persistence of families who have been fighting for justice has brought us to this moment. We all owe them our thanks and our action. I feel privileged to have so many colleagues who fought alongside them for so long. I…
‘Part IVB - CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW (PUBLIC PETITION)29 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his response on work in prison. I completely agree that it makes a huge difference in enabling prisoners to stop their reoffending behaviour. When 80% of offending is reoffending, costing over £18 billion a year, it is clear that we need to enable people to turn their… lives around. Does he agree that our communities will be safer when we are able to tackle reoffending rates?
Hansard · 29 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
PB
Peter Bedford
In September 2024, my constituents and, indeed, the country were left shocked by the senseless killing of Braunstone Town resident Bhim Kohli. Mr Kohli, a well-respected and decent man, was just walking through Franklin park as he usually did, accompanied by his dog Rocky, when he was targeted and assaulted to death by…
LC
Lewis Cocking
My hon. Friend is making an excellent and passionate speech. Does he agree that the Government should consider supporting new clause 14 and removing anonymity for young people who commit such serious crimes, because they are looking to reduce the voting age to 16? We should talk about when people in this country become…
PB
Peter Bedford
I could not agree more. My hon. Friend mentions the rumours that the Government are planning to lower the voting age, and it would seem contradictory to have two ages of responsibility. I will turn now to new clause 18, tabled my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan) . It is shocking that the girl w…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
Does the Chair of the Justice Committee wish to make a speech?
JM
John Martin McDonnell
I have only a couple of sentences, Madam Deputy Speaker. To remind the Minister, in last week’s Committee, my new clause—which is effectively new clause 26 today—represented the views of a number of organisations, including the National Association of Probation Officers, recalling the problems that we faced with privat…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Domestic abuse remains the deepest scar on our society, and it demands our collective action to eradicate it. Please can the Minister outline the measures in the Bill that will help tackle this invidious form of violence and enable improved support for victims during the process?
Business of the House23 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
It is brilliant that new playgrounds are being built in Derby, including in Stockbrook Park and in Knightsbridge in Mackworth. Stockbrook Park is also home to an incredible local grassroots football club, the Stockbrook Colts, whose play has been stopped because the pitch they play on is unusable and in need of repair. They deserve… a ground that matches the effort they put in. Will the Leader of the House make time for a debate on grassroots football and its importance to our local communities?
Hansard · 23 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
AC
Alan Campbell
The business for the week commencing 27 October will include: Monday 27 October —Remaining stages of the Victims and Courts Bill. Tuesday 28 October —Opposition day on a motion in the name of the official Opposition—subject to be announced. Wednesday 29 October —Remaining stages of the Sentencing Bill. Thursday 30 Octo…
JN
Jesse Norman
In addition to the tributes that were paid earlier this week, I believe I will be speaking for all Members in mourning the death on Monday of our former colleague Oliver Colvile. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] Oliver entered the House with me in that glorious parliamentary generation of 2010. He was nationally famous fo…
AC
Alan Campbell
I am pleased to see the shadow Leader of the House back in his place this week. I just inform him, if he did not already know, that last week we discovered in his absence that he has a highly capable deputy in the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) , who may or may not be joining us in del…
CN
Charlotte Nichols
Last week, the Office for National Statistics published its latest report on drugs-related deaths in England and Wales. Sadly, for the 12th consecutive year, drugs-related deaths have increased, with a harrowing 5,565 people losing their lives to drugs in the last year. A key finding of the report is that almost half t…
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry21 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Victims must be at the heart of the grooming gangs inquiry. Does the Minister agree that getting the right chair is absolutely key to ensuring that that happens? Does she also agree that we have to avoid the scenes that we saw under the last Government, who appointed three chairs who then withdrew from the… independent inquiry into child sexual abuse—an inquiry that took two years to start?
Hansard · 21 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
CP
Chris Philp
(Urgent Question): To ask the Home Secretary to make a statement on the recent criticism of the statutory inquiry into the rape gang scandal.
JP
Jess Phillips
As stated in my previous statement to the House on 2 September and in my letter to the Home Affairs Committee yesterday, the Government remain resolute in delivering Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her national audit of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. These crimes committed by grooming gangs…
CP
Chris Philp
This scandal arose because young, mainly white girls were systematically gang-raped and it was covered up by those in authority because the perpetrators were mainly of Pakistani origin. It is all the more shocking that when calls for a national inquiry became public in January, the Prime Minister smeared campaigners as…
JP
Jess Phillips
The right hon. Gentleman cannot have listened to my remarks at all if he is suggesting that the Government have silenced anybody. The Government have not handled the process; it has been handled by a grooming gang charity. He cited and named a victim of crime. If the right hon. Gentleman had done anywhere near the leve…
JM
Jim McMahon
Oldham has stepped forward to take on a local inquiry, and it has been waiting to understand what the move to the national inquiry means for its work. The same is true of victims and survivors, whose bravery and strength in the most difficult circumstances have been truly remarkable. What arrangements have been put in …
“Part 12a - GAMBLING TREATMENT REQUIREMENT21 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Eighty per cent of offenders are reoffenders because of the 14 years of mess that this Government are having to clear up. The real travesty of justice is that there are no prison cells available for people who are convicted. The last Government failed to build the prison places that are needed; this Government will… ensure that they exist, because they will always be needed. It is as though the Conservatives left the tap running and are whining about the flood that they let happen.
Hansard · 21 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
EM
Esther McVey
I oppose the whole idea of forcing courts to give suspended sentences when they should be sending offenders to prison. We all know that it is hard to get sent to prison in the first place, and judges and magistrates do not send people to prison lightly. In fact, they do not send people to prison enough, as far as I can…
SJ
Sally Jameson
The right hon. Lady suggests that the Bill will bring law and order into question, but as a former prison officer I would say it was the previous Government running our prison system to a boiling point that nearly brought law and order crashing down, with fewer than 100 bed spaces available last summer. It might be poi…
EM
Esther McVey
I thank the hon. Lady for making that point, although I would point out that under the last Government three prisons were built—HMP Five Wells, HMP Fosse Way and HMP Millsike—which added an extra 8,500 places. Three further prisons will also be built.
DS
Desmond Swayne
The active management of the prison service at those levels of occupation was of course hard work, but that hard work was absolutely necessary, and far preferable to simply taking a view that we will not have all those criminals in prison at all. The reality is that what we are doing now is much worse.
EM
Esther McVey
I agree with my right hon. Friend. This disgrace of a Bill will not be sending people to prison, and at the same time it will be letting people out of prison. Amendments 46, 47, 51 and 52 would change the length of sentences that qualify for the “get out of jail free” suspended sentences to those of less than 12 months…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
On that point, will the right hon. Lady give way?
Topical Questions20 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I was delighted to welcome the Education Secretary to St Mary’s Catholic primary school in Derby, the greenest school in the country, where every classroom looks out on to green spaces. We are also lucky to have the stunning River Derwent flowing through our city, which children can paddle, walk and row along. What assessments… have been made of the benefits to children of having access to nature as part of their education?
Hansard · 20 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
MP
Manuela Perteghella
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
BP
Bridget Phillipson
The launch of Labour’s best start in life campaign last week marked a watershed moment. The Conservatives slashed family services, leaving children and families across our country without support, but Labour is building back that support, reviving Sure Start for a new generation. It is more than just the Best Start adv…
MP
Manuela Perteghella
I declare that I used to work as a university lecturer before being elected. One of my constituents has already paid nearly £500 for their French visa, just to be able to undertake their year abroad as part of their degree. These costs will exclude students from disadvantaged backgrounds from vital international opport…
BP
Bridget Phillipson
If the hon. Lady would be so kind as to provide me with some information and more details, I will happily ensure that she gets a proper response.
JD
Jim Dickson
We recently had brilliant news in Dartford for young people in the constituency and across the region, with North Kent college designated as a technical excellence college, with a focus on transforming construction training. That is perfect for the lower Thames crossing just coming on stream. The college, however, is f…
Pride in Place15 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
For years in Derby, we have been pushing for this kind of long-term investment—investment that the fantastic community of Chaddesden richly deserves. It will take time and hard work to recover from the 14 years of neglect that communities like Chaddesden experienced. I would like every Chadd resident with ideas of how they can get… the money spent and get involved to contact me. Does the Minister agree that it is key that local people have a say in how that money is spent?
Hansard · 15 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
NG
Nusrat Ghani
Order. Mr Waugh, you do not cross the Front Bench, even to take a shortcut. It is not on.
MF
Miatta Fahnbulleh
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to make a statement on the action we are taking to restore pride in place. Britain’s renewal is a driving mission of this Labour Government, and we know that that must be seen, felt and heard in every single neighbourhood. Our identity, sense of patriotism and feeling of be…
DS
David Simmonds
This statement speaks of pride. Conservative Members have pride in our local pubs, 200 of which have closed in the past six months, hammered by the Labour party’s business rates rises. We have pride in our restaurants, which are closing in record numbers under the business rates burden imposed by this Government. We ar…
MF
Miatta Fahnbulleh
I am disappointed by the hon. Member’s lack of contrition and his failure to say sorry. The Conservatives presided over 14 years of failure, during which, over a period of austerity, local government and local civic institutions were denuded and deprived communities were hollowed out. He says that we are funding areas …
NG
Nusrat Ghani
Order. “Because of your record”? My record? “Because of you”? Me? Let us temper our language, lower the temperature and continue.
Work for Serving Prisoners15 Oct 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In my early years as a barrister, I sometimes came across defendants who knew the criminal justice system better than me. Their antecedents—their list of previous convictions—was pages long, showing multiple stints in prison. I used to do both prosecution and defence, and I remember some defendants even sharing with me their top tips as… to what might be the strongest arguments for bail or the best mitigation points in sentencing, because they had been through the process so many times. I also saw offenders sentenced to custody for the first time, taking their turn in what is far too often a revolving door of prison. Sometimes, they were sent to prison far from home. It is so common to see offenders lose family ties, their housing, their job and any sense of purpose. After weeks, months or years, they would come out having achieved nothing, often with little or no money, no job and little confidence or self-worth.
Hansard · 15 Oct 2025 · parliament.uk
PD
Paul Davies
I compliment my hon. Friend on her excellent speech. Does she agree that improving literacy in prisons is a powerful tool for rehabilitation and reintegration? Literacy equips prisoners with essential communication and comprehension skills, laying the foundation for further education and vocational training. By fosteri…
JS
Jim Shannon
I commend the hon. Lady on bringing forward this debate. When I heard what she was going to speak about, I wanted to intervene: first, because it is an admirable subject, and secondly, because I fully support what she is trying to achieve. I hope that the Minister will come back to her along those lines. Does the hon. …
WJ
Warinder Juss
The issue of work in prison is something we have considered on the Justice Committee. Separately, I have recently visited prisons, where I had the opportunity to talk to prisoners. Does my hon. Friend agree that meaningful work in prisons can not only erase the boredom that can lead to drug use but give prisoners skill…
LF
Linsey Farnsworth
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, and I agree entirely with what she says about the importance of meaningful work or purposeful activity in prisons. On that basis, does she share my concern that the court backlog means that there are thousands of prisoners on remand who are not required to do purposeful a…
SR
Sarah Russell
My local women’s prison is HMP Styal, and my hon. Friend will be aware of the Clink Charity, which does work in developing people’s skills in hospitality. Its ability to operate in HMP Styal collapsed completely because, as there was such a shortage of prison officers, the women were locked up for so much of the time t…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Investing in education and work is a key part of preventing reoffending. Frustratingly, without rehabilitation the alternative is a return to the easiest path—one of crime. We then see the revolving door of prison take another turn. Without intervention, one in two prison leavers …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
It is not a bona fide Adjournment debate unless the hon. Member has intervened, so I thank him for his intervention and his insight. I fully agree with him. As well as having seen countless examples of prison having not worked, I have met former offenders who have escaped the revolving door, often through work. Many ha…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I agree, and I want to see work in prison start as early as possible—not just at the end of a prisoner’s sentence but during it. I was proud to stand on a manifesto pledge to get offenders into work. That offenders should work is a conclusion that is intuitively obvious to me, having been a barrister, and that is also …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution and for making that powerful point. That is why the Government are doing so much to reduce the backlog. Work in prison also comes with a host of second-order benefits, such as improving prisoner behaviour, filling skills gaps and boosting the economy. I do not underestimate t…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution. There is some really fantastic work being done, which I will come on to, and it is essential that we find ways of enabling even more of that, because time stuck in prisons does not improve behaviour; it makes it worse. In the last year of the Conservative Government, we saw …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
That is another fantastic initiative. I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. Impressively, some of the partner agents and partner charities working with the RFA have achieved reoffending rates of under 5%. I was told at HMP Ranby that the most popular work with prisoners was for the rail industry, though sometime…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The hon. Lady makes an important point. That is one of the reasons that the RFA has created its tracking system: to have tangible evidence of the efficacy of the work that we intuitively know must be successful in preventing reoffending. The businesses that I have met that are utilising release on temporary licence sch…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. Having a range of options for people is really important, but she also makes it clear that shorter sentences can prevent rehabilitative work being done, which is why it is so important that we are trying to move to a presumption against shorter sentences. A range of things c…
Sentencing Bill16 Sep 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Madam Deputy Speaker, put yourself in the place of a victim of crime. You want to go out for a walk with your family, out to the park or to the other side of town, but you are worried that the perpetrator might see you there. You want to go for a night out or… to support your football team, but you are worried about what they might do or how you might react if they are there too, so you do not. They are the one who was convicted, but you still feel like the prisoner. They received the sentence, but you are being punished. It happens too often, and I have come across cases like these not just as an MP but in my time as a barrister. This is a Bill whose time has come, because it turns that injustice on its head. Currently, some offenders can be excluded from certain limited areas, but under this Bill, they can be restricted from all areas apart from a limited one. Whether it is the pub, the match or driving around, expanding community punishments and licensing conditions will ensure that it is the offenders who face restrictions on what they can do and enjoy, not the victims. I do not need to tell my constituents in Derby North about the situation inherited from the Conservatives—a broken justice system, prisons full and in crisis, severe criminal court backlogs and decaying infrastructure—because too many of them live the reality of having to deal with the thousands of antisocial behaviour incidents that we see in our city every year. There is a need to tackle prolific and persistent offenders with strict monitoring and co-ordinated support. The expansion of intensive supervision courts is designed to do just that, and it is hugely welcomed by those I have spoken to who work in our criminal courts. They have said to me, “Roll this out as fast as possible.” The additional £700 million that this Government are investing in our Probation Service—with the recruitment of 1,000 trainee probation officers already and 1,300 more to be recruited in the next six months—is rebui
Hansard · 16 Sep 2025 · parliament.uk
CN
Caroline Nokes
The reasoned amendment in the name of Robert Jenrick has been selected.
DL
David Lammy
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. It is my pleasure to open this debate—my first since being appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. It is an honour to be back on this beat and to take up this brief. Justice has always been at the heart of my politics o…
FM
Freddie Van Mierlo
I broadly welcome the Bill’s provisions, which will take on the mess that the Conservatives left behind. Does the right hon. Member agree that it is important to get the right balance between the purpose of prison, particularly for violent crime, which is to rehabilitate criminals, but also to provide a deterrent and p…
DL
David Lammy
That is a very good summary. We must have punishment that works, and I will talk about that later in my speech. When we look at the record of the previous Government, and I have looked at the figures very closely, we see that the recidivism rates were running at 60%, 65%, 68%. Something is not working when people go ba…
LS
Liz Saville-Roberts
There is much to welcome in the Sentencing Bill, including the inclusion of restriction zone measures, which are testament to the tireless work of my constituent Rhianon Bragg and her fellow campaigners. Details need to be clarified, however. Which offenders will be automatically included? Will the measures be applied …
Regional Transport Inequality11 Sep 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I beg to move, That this House has considered regional transport inequality. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate. It was originally due to take place on the first day back from the summer recess, but there was not time because so many people wanted to speak. I am grateful to those… in attendance today. The importance of transport is completely understandable. Whether for travel to work and to healthcare appointments, meeting family and friends, or getting goods to the businesses that need them, transport keeps our country running, keeps life moving and keeps us all connected. This Labour Government are committed to opening up opportunities across our country, so it is important to address the historic and long-standing inequalities between regions when it comes to transport. Those of us who had the chance to go on holiday in the UK during our hot summer, which already seems quite a long time ago, have returned better acquainted with the transport infrastructure in each other’s constituencies—those who heard, “Are we there yet?” on repeat from the back seat are perhaps too acquainted. One of the benefits of being on the Transport Committee —as well as having esteemed colleagues, a number of whom are here today—is that every trip can be an unofficial fact-finding trip. We can compare, sometimes enviously, the newest tram extension, charging network or bus lane. Colleagues across the country are advocating for transport projects their constituencies. When we are successful in securing transport investment, that change brings people together, cuts costs for our businesses and allows people to access new opportunities, but when transport breaks down or gets cut, constituents suffer the consequences, often daily. One example in my constituency is the Darley Abbey Mills bridge, which was found to be unsafe and was shut, leaving people and businesses cut off and isolated. A temporary bridge was put in three years ago, but thanks to the new East
Hansard · 11 Sep 2025 · parliament.uk
JC
Judith Cummins
I call Catherine Atkinson, who will speak for about 15 minutes.
CO
Chi Onwurah
My hon. Friend is making an excellent introductory speech on regional inequalities in transport. Buses are incredibly important in my constituency, and they need not only investment but support. Newcastle is yet to receive real-time bus information of the type that has been enjoyed in London for more than a decade, whi…
JN
James Naish
My hon. Friend mentions that constituents have written to her, but does she acknowledge that in addition more than 30 MPs have been working together to advocate for electrification, because of the great benefits she has described?
JC
Judith Cummins
Order. There is an immediate four-minute time limit.
GS
Gregory Stafford
In just one year, this Labour Government have already failed rural Britain on transport. They have scrapped the £2 bus fare cap, pushing up costs for working people; they have wasted £250 million in the process of nationalising South Western Railway, while my commuters are still stuck with cancelled peak services; and …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I think we can all agree that the better the technology and the real-time information that is needed, the more people will be encouraged to use our buses. We absolutely need to encourage more people to use our buses. Over the 15 years up to 2023, we saw a massive loss of bus services. Where the cuts hit has varied, but…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I am grateful for the support that my hon. Friend, alongside many colleagues, has shown for electrification and the benefits that it can bring. It would be a fitting celebration of 200 years of the modern railway to continue the electrification of the midland main line, which would bring jobs, skills and hundreds of mi…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I am just about to finish. If the UK is a body, Derby is geographically at its heart and is asking to have the same chance as everywhere else to be connected. We need to maintain our change of direction to reduce the inequality in the spend per person on transport, stay on track towards the reduction, and ultimately th…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting the debate. I thank my many colleagues who spoke passionately and persuasively for better transport options for their regions, but also raised fantastic examples of new investment. The number of contributions shows how important transport equality is, and it is huge…
Defence Industrial Strategy8 Sep 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
This morning, I was at the Nuclear Skills Academy in Derby. It is a partnership between Rolls-Royce and the University of Derby that teaches the skills needed to create the reactors that power our submarines, and it delivers 200 apprenticeships a year. The defence industrial strategy delivers the biggest investment in defence skills in decades.… Can the Minister tell us more about how it will help smaller defence suppliers to secure the skills that they need, too?
Hansard · 8 Sep 2025 · parliament.uk
LP
Luke Pollard
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish to make a statement on the defence industrial strategy. Today we fulfil another manifesto commitment by publishing our plan to strengthen our security and grow our economy. It is a plan to back British-based industry, create British jobs and drive British innovation. Before…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Secretary of State for Defence.
JC
James Cartlidge
I am grateful to the Minister for early sight of both his statement and the hard copy document. Before I respond to the statement, may I express on behalf of the Opposition our wholehearted condemnation of the latest drone attack on Kyiv, the largest of the war, with small children among the dead? It is a reminder of w…
LP
Luke Pollard
I think the shadow Defence Secretary really wanted to welcome this strategy, but is finding it difficult, because the politics have got in the way. I will deal with some of that, but first let me say that I am grateful to him for his words about the attack in Kyiv. It is so important that, although we may disagree abou…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the Chair of the Defence Committee.
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse2 Sep 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The crime of group-based child sexual exploitation is probably the most heinous imaginable. It is so brave of victims to speak out, seek justice and drive change so that other young lives are protected from such crimes. Can the Minister tell us more about how the national inquiry will engage with victims and survivors and… ensure that their voices—and the voices of those who previously bravely contributed to investigations and inquiries—are central to the recommendations? Unlike the criminal law, the criminal injuries compensation scheme does not recognise that children cannot legally consent, and excludes those who have been deemed to consent from compensation. Will the Minister work with the Victims Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) —to right that injustice?
Hansard · 2 Sep 2025 · parliament.uk
CN
Caroline Nokes
Before I call the Minister, I remind hon. Members that they should avoid referring to any active cases that are currently before the courts.
JP
Jess Phillips
I would like to update the House on the progress being made to deliver Baroness Casey’s recommendations following her national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, which was published before the summer recess. The sexual exploitation and abuse of children by grooming gangs are the most horrific and…
CN
Caroline Nokes
Order. Given that the Minister has just taken 12 minutes, I will be extending the time allowance to the shadow Home Secretary to six minutes and to the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats to three minutes. I call the shadow Home Secretary.
CP
Chris Philp
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. Let us remember that victims are at the heart of this: young girls, some only 10 years old, were groomed and gang raped by men of predominantly Pakistani origin. They were girls like Jane, who was just 12 years old when she was raped by an illegal immigrant, but …
JP
Jess Phillips
I partially thank the shadow Home Secretary for his tone, but I will correct the record. I did not say that he had done nothing: I said that Baroness Casey said that there had been “a decade of inaction on these appalling crimes by previous Governments”. That is exactly what I said. I answered in my statement many of t…
Further Education Estate21 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps she is taking to help improve the condition of the further education college estate.
Hansard · 21 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
SR
Steve Race
What steps she is taking to improve the quality of the further education estate.
SM
Stephen Morgan
Excellent further education colleges are a key building block of the Government’s opportunity and growth missions. The Government are committed to improving the condition of schools and colleges in England and will invest nearly £3 billion per year by 2034-2035, rising from £2.4 billion in 2024-25.
SM
Stephen Morgan
Applications to become construction technical excellence colleges closed on 4 July . We look forward to informing successful candidates in due course. In addition, £375 million of capital investment will be invested between 2026 and 2030 to support post-16 capacity to accommodate the additional learners entering the sy…
SR
Steve Race
I know that the Minister will agree with me that in Exeter we have two of the country’s most outstanding FE institutions. Exeter college is rated outstanding by Ofsted and as “strong” in its approach to meeting the skills needs of our area—the first time a college has achieved both. Exeter maths school is also rated ou…
SM
Stephen Morgan
I join my hon. Friend in recognising the success of Exeter college and Exeter maths school, which are both outstanding. As he will know, the Government have announced capital funding to improve the condition of the estate and accommodate rising student numbers as we hope to replicate the success of these settings acros…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The oldest surviving locomotive roundhouse in Britain is in Derby, and what was once at the forefront of Victorian engineering is now a cutting-edge learning environment for local young people who will build the homes of the future. But the site is full to bursting—Derby college needs more space. Does the Minister agre…
Independent Water Commission21 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
More than 60 year 4 pupils from Walter Evans primary school in Derby wrote to me and the Secretary of State worried about sewage dumping and plastic pollution in our rivers. I thank the Secretary of State for his clear commitment that the Government will halve pollution in our rivers by 2030. Does he agree… that had the Conservatives taken action of that kind when they came to power 14 years ago, my nine-year-old constituents would have known cleaner rivers all their lives?
Hansard · 21 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
RG
Roger Gale
Before I call the Secretary of State to make his statement, I place on the record the fact that Mr Speaker and the Deputy Speakers were disappointed to see extensive coverage in the media this morning of Ministers’ responses to the Independent Water Commission, before the House has had the opportunity to consider the m…
SR
Steve Reed
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have, of course, saved the bulk of my responses for you and the House this afternoon. With permission, I would like to update the House on the Government’s plans to reform the water sector. The water industry is clearly failing. Our rivers, lakes and seas are polluted with record levels …
RM
Robbie Moore
I am grateful to the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. I shall be responding on behalf of the shadow Secretary of State while she meets farmers at the Royal Welsh Show. Let me begin by recognising the scale and seriousness of the work undertaken by Sir Jon Cunliffe and his team. The review contains…
SR
Steve Reed
I thank the hon. Gentleman—I think—for his comments, but it is disappointing that the shadow Secretary of State did not consider a matter of this urgency to be important enough for her to show up in the Chamber this afternoon. I am afraid that that really does reflect the importance that their party ascribed to this is…
BE
Bill Esterson
My constituents will be very pleased with what the Government have announced today, following 14 years of seeing increases in the dumping of sewage on the beaches, and in the rivers, in my constituency. I could not help but notice that yesterday the leader of Reform, in his answer to every question, said either “I don’…
Afghanistan15 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
My husband served in Afghanistan and has always felt keenly the debt that our country owes to those who worked alongside and supported our forces, and I know that many of my constituents who served there feel the same. If we fail to honour our debts, why should people in future conflicts trust us and… support our troops? Does the Defence Secretary share that concern? Does he also agree that it is right that we offer a warm welcome to the Afghans who come to our country seeking sanctuary?
Hansard · 15 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
JH
John Healey
With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement on a significant data protection breach from February 2022 relating to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy. It led to the High Court granting an unprecedented super-injunction and the previous Government establishing a secret Afghan resettlement route. To…
JC
James Cartlidge
I am grateful to the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement and for receipt earlier this morning of a hard copy of the Rimmer review. I also thank the Secretary of State and the Minister for the Armed Forces for briefing me yesterday and other parliamentary colleagues today. Furthermore, given the nature…
JH
John Healey
I welcome the tone in which the shadow Defence Secretary has responded, and I welcome his joining me in the apology on behalf of the British Government to those whose data has been compromised. I also welcome his acceptance that, as he put it, it was “entirely appropriate” for the Defence Secretary, as part of a new Go…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Defence Committee.
TD
Tan Dhesi
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. Although I welcome it and his intent to inject parliamentary transparency and scrutiny, this whole data breach is a mess and wholly unacceptable. As I mentioned to the Minister for the Armed Forces during our recent secret briefing, I am minded to recom…
Topical Questions14 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
We are seeing massive investment in the regeneration of Derby city centre, including the opening of a new entertainment venue and the reopening of our market hall, which is bursting with small and independent businesses. Regeneration also means ensuring that our city feels safe, welcoming and inclusive. Will the Minister tell us how the Department… is working with the Home Office to ensure that our cities and towns are thriving and safe?
Hansard · 14 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
SO
Sarah Olney
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
AR
Angela Rayner
I was pleased that the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill had its First Reading last Thursday. That landmark Bill will bring a radical reset to local government, deliver on our manifesto commitment to decentralise power, ignite regional growth with streamlined powers for mayors, and speed up new homes an…
SO
Sarah Olney
I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues welcome the provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which recognise that first past the post is an unrepresentative electoral system. That is a welcome first step—although we would prefer alternative voting for mayoral elections—but if the Government adm…
AR
Angela Rayner
Let me cover that point. Mayors serve many millions of people and manage multimillion-pound budgets, yet can be elected by just a fraction of the vote under the previous Government’s changes—despite the fact that the supplementary vote system had worked effectively for over a decade. Given that the large populations th…
DA
Dan Aldridge
Despite decades of hard work, not least by the Birnbeck Regeneration Trust, the restoration of Weston-super-Mare’s nationally important Birnbeck pier is now at risk after the Royal National Lifeboat Institution pulled out, leaving a £5 million shortfall. Will the Minister outline how the Government might support the pr…
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions9 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
After 14 years of Conservative government, victims of rape and serious sexual crimes are waiting years to see justice. It appears that the shadow Justice Secretary has recently discovered that our criminal justice system is broken. When does the Minister think he will discover who broke it?
Hansard · 9 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
RJ
Robert Jenrick
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if she will make a statement on her plans to restrict trial by jury through the creation of a Crown court bench division and related sentencing changes.
SS
Sarah Sackman
This Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with record and rising backlogs in our criminal courts, leaving victims in limbo as they wait to see justice done. For that reason, the Lord Chancellor commissioned Sir Brian Leveson to undertake a once-in-a-generation review of the criminal courts. We are grateful …
RJ
Robert Jenrick
All of us agree that justice delayed is justice denied. That is why it is so important to get control of the court backlog. No one pretends that this is straightforward, but the Government have made the crisis worse. The backlog is at a record high, and accelerating, with 750 cases being added every month. Sir Brian Le…
SS
Sarah Sackman
What I did not hear in any of that was an apology. It is extraordinary to hear that the shadow Justice Secretary has suddenly discovered a sense of urgency, but where was that sense of urgency in the past 14 years? The so-called party of law of order allowed two things to happen. First, it took our prison system to the…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Justice Committee.
Topical Questions8 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Derbyshire Victim Services does really important work supporting victims, including those who have experienced sexual assault and domestic violence, but given the court backlog inherited from the Conservative Government, the service has told me that many of the victims are in need of support for longer, with many having complex needs that public services can… struggle to meet. What steps is the Department taking to help support services to provide support to victims with complex needs that are exacerbated when justice is delayed?
Hansard · 8 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
JL
John Lamont
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
SM
Shabana Mahmood
It is a little over a year since this Government were elected, and ever since I have been clearing up the mess created by the previous Government, who left our prisons days from collapse. I am ensuring that we can never run out of space again. We have already opened around 2,500 new prison places, with the aim of creat…
JL
John Lamont
Under the SNP, the number of suspected criminals in Scotland being let off with a slap on the wrist has increased by 28% in a year, according to the latest data. Now the Labour Government here seem to want to copy the SNP. Why will the Labour Government not put victims first, instead of doing what they are doing now—le…
SM
Shabana Mahmood
What absolute nonsense. Let me tell the House the definition of soft justice: it is what the Tory party did, building only 500 prison places in 14 years in office. That is why we are in this mess and that is the mess that I am cleaning up.
MT
Marie Tidball
Last month, a devastating report by Women’s Aid revealed that a total of 67 children have been killed over a 30-year period by a known domestically abusive parent, in circumstances related to the courts’ use of the principle of the presumption of contact. Two of those children, Jack and Paul Sykes, are the sons of my f…
Topical Questions1 Jul 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Backing Rolls-Royce, a brilliant Derby business, to deliver small modular reactors with £2.5 billion of investment shows what Labour’s new industrial strategy is about—backing British business, creating more skilled jobs and delivering clean, secure energy. Does the Chancellor agree that, after years of chaos under the Conservatives, Britain is unashamedly open for business?
Hansard · 1 Jul 2025 · parliament.uk
JL
John Lamont
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
RR
Rachel Reeves
The Government are delivering on the priorities of the British people. Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics confirmed that the UK was the fastest-growing G7 nation in the first quarter of this year. Since the election, this Labour Government have brought £120 billion of private investment into our economy. The…
JL
John Lamont
The award-winning bookshop and deli Mainstreet Trading Company in St Boswells has been forced to reduce its operating hours because “increases to employer national insurance mean that our operating cost base has increased significantly.” What advice does the Chancellor have for small businesses suffering because of thi…
RR
Rachel Reeves
This Government increased the employment allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, and that means 865,000 employers will pay no national insurance at all. Indeed, half of employers will either gain or see no change. It was also welcome that the Lloyds business barometer showed business confidence at a nine-year high, with a pa…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
This is topicals; we have got to get going. Brian Leishman will set a good example.
Topical Questions26 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I met taxi drivers in Derby, at a meeting organised by the GMB, who are proud of the work they do. They want high standards across the board; what actions is the Minister taking to review taxi licensing, so that everyone can have confidence that the taxi and private hire industry is reliable, sustainable, and… safe for passengers and the drivers themselves?
Hansard · 26 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
WH
Wera Hobhouse
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
HA
Heidi Alexander
Earlier this month, the Chancellor’s spending review made it clear that national renewal must be felt everywhere, in every place and in every journey, and that is what this Government are delivering, starting with the biggest ever regional transport investment outside London: over £15 billion towards metro extensions i…
WH
Wera Hobhouse
The transport sector generates Britain’s highest emissions. Through collaboration with France, we have the opportunity to transform the world’s busiest ferry route, across the strait of Dover between Britain and France, into the world’s first high-volume green shipping corridor. Will the Minister commit to championing …
HA
Heidi Alexander
The hon. Lady is entirely right to highlight the importance of decarbonising our maritime industry and ensuring that our ports have the grid connections to enable fleets to purchase new vessels, so that we can get carbon emissions down on the seas, as well as elsewhere in our economy. I would be very happy to talk to h…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Criminal Justice - Ministry of Justice25 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
With 80% of offenders being reoffenders, does that not show that our current system is really broken and that we need a different approach? Does my hon. Friend agree that we have an opportunity with the sentencing review to keep our communities safer by properly addressing reoffending?
Hansard · 25 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the Chair of the Justice Committee to open the debate.
AS
Andrew Slaughter
I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing time for this important debate on the spending of the Ministry of Justice on criminal justice. An effective criminal justice system is vital to the proper functioning of a democratic society. An ineffective criminal justice system presents grave risks for both socia…
AS
Andrew Slaughter
My hon. Friend, who is knowledgeable on these issues, is absolutely right. We are relying on the implementation of the Gauke review’s recommendations to do two things: to ensure there is capacity in the prisons for the growing number of people being sentenced in our courts; and, in the longer term, to reduce prisoner n…
NS
Neil Shastri-Hurst
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point about court backlogs. Another factor is having the appropriate magistrates, legal advisers and so on to hear these cases. The Magistrates’ Association has raised concerns that the spending review allocation is insufficient to tackle that. Does he share those concerns?
AS
Andrew Slaughter
I do share those concerns. I want to take only a few more minutes with my speech, so I do not have time to go into what is happening in the magistrates courts as well—that is a debate for another day—but the shortage of magistrates, the shortage of legal clerks and low pay rates across HMCTS are clearly some of the fac…
Ministry of Defence25 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
My husband was an Army reservist who served in Afghanistan. He has not told me a great deal about what his job entailed, but he has told me about taking flights in helicopters that hugged mountains on which the burned-out remnants of Soviet tanks stood ghostly guard; about his interactions with the people in the… Afghan army and the civilians who worked with us; about buying bread from locals; and about visiting the children being treated in the hospital on the international security assistance force army base. Our armed forces are the best in the world. That can be a throwaway phrase used by politicians, but it is one that I stand by, and I know that many families of our armed forces, both in Derby and across the country, stand by it too. As we celebrate Armed Forces Week in Derby, I will be thinking of them. It is essential that our armed forces have the kit, the arms and the technology that they need, and in my view, those who serve our national security by working in the defence industry and their families should have their contribution celebrated, too. We are in a new era of threat that demands a new era for UK defence, so it was absolutely right for this Government to announce the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the cold war, and to have already boosted defence spending by £5 billion this year. As the Government increase defence spending, they are making defence an engine for growth, boosting prosperity, jobs and growth in every corner of the UK. Over the last few weeks, Derby has been mentioned many times in this Chamber. It is one of many cities benefiting from the Government’s commitment to defence and security, which is creating the skilled, secure jobs that we see in our city and across Derbyshire and the east midlands. Under the new defence industrial strategy, UK-based firms will be prioritised for Government investment, and that will drive economic growth, boost British jobs and strengthen national security. Under the las
Hansard · 25 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
GC
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Let me begin by thanking you, Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr Speaker and the Backbench Business Committee for selecting this debate, which, if I may say so, is particularly appropriate in Armed Forces Week. Let me also thank the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge) , who is sitting on th…
LJ
Lincoln Jopp
My hon. Friend mentioned the equipment plan; does he share the Defence Committee’s frustration that the last time anyone was able to scrutinise that spending was in 2022? Is he aware that when Lord Robertson came to the Defence Committee to discuss the strategic defence review last week, he was surprised that the Defen…
GC
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
My hon. Friend has made the case eloquently, and I have also made it. The Minister will have heard and, hopefully, she might have something positive to say when she responds to the debate.
AM
Andrew Murrison
To what extent does my hon. Friend believe that the situation is even worse than he has outlined? Inflationary pressures bear far more heavily on defence than on, with the possible exception of healthcare, practically any other part of public spending, yet I see no evidence in the defence review or anywhere else over t…
Department for Transport25 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, has secured £2 billion for transport to and between Derby and Nottingham. Considering that the east midlands has languished at the bottom of the list for transport spend per person, does my hon. Friend agree that this Government are taking strides to ensure that the growth that comes… through transport is felt in every corner of the country?
Hansard · 25 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
JC
Judith Cummins
I call the Chair of the Transport Committee.
RC
Ruth Cadbury
Whether they are walking or cycling, riding on buses, trams or trains, or planes, transport plays a huge role in the daily lives of our constituents, and for the businesses and public services on which we all depend. I welcome the fact that the Government are investing properly in transport, particularly local transpor…
DC
Deirdre Costigan
The previous Government forced Transport for London to come with a begging bowl every year to get the money needed to keep the tube and the buses going in the capital. Does my hon. Friend welcome this Government’s multi-year funding deal for TfL, which is the largest settlement for over a decade, and does she agree tha…
RC
Ruth Cadbury
I welcome the intervention from my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour. As a London MP, I know that stability in transport provision in London will be of huge benefit to my constituents, Londoners, visitors and commuters to London. We did not get everything we wanted in the spending review—in our case, the west Lond…
PS
Peter Swallow
This Government’s commitment to supporting transport across the country has led to a quadrupling of money for local transport grants, meaning that Bracknell Forest council will receive almost £7 million of transport funding through the spending review. To return to her previous point about strategy, does my hon. Friend…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In the east midlands, we saw our bus routes cut by 60% under successive Conservative Governments. Does my hon. Friend agree that buses have a huge impact upon people’s lives and their ability to access opportunities in training and work, to get to health appointments and to connect with family and friends? Does my hon.…
UK Modern Industrial Strategy23 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Worryingly, only 9% of secondary vocational learners are studying engineering, manufacturing and construction compared with the OECD average of 32%, so I warmly welcome that this industrial strategy confirms a £100 million investment to support engineering skills in England. Will the Secretary of State outline how that funding will help to meet skills shortages and… deliver growth across the country, including in engineering cities such as Derby?
Hansard · 23 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
JR
Jonathan Reynolds
With permission, I will make a statement on how this Government are backing British business and British workers through the launch of the UK’s modern industrial strategy. At the outset, I wish to thank Dame Clare Barclay, all members of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council and my officials for their outstanding wo…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
Please be seated. The Secretary of State is very diligent, but could he let his officials know that if the opening statement is to go beyond 10 minutes, they should inform the Speaker’s Office? As the statement went a little bit longer, I will allow the Opposition and the Liberal Democrats to have an extra one minute e…
AG
Andrew Griffith
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. It is always a good day when we can talk about our wonderful and innovative British businesses, but, sad to say, this strategy has taken the best part of 12 months to appear. That is how long British industry has had to wait for this cut and paste indus…
JR
Jonathan Reynolds
So fuelled by optimism am I today that even the shadow Secretary of State cannot bring me down. Having been in opposition for some time, I can say that, “This document is all rubbish and I welcome most of it,” is quite an exciting take on a response. The Conservative party has managed to oppose almost everything that t…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the Chair of the Business and Trade Committee.
HS2 Reset18 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The Conservatives announced that they were scrapping the northern leg of HS2 in a former railway station, summing up their attitude to the railway and sending shockwaves through the industry, including in Derby, a rail city that will be building the HS2 trains. Will the Transport Secretary ensure certainty and timeliness going forward, so that… the industry can have confidence that we will not see further delays, which have already been so damaging for the supply chain?
Hansard · 18 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
HA
Heidi Alexander
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on HS2. As a London councillor over 15 years ago, I remember hearing the then Labour Government’s bold plans for high-speed rail to link our major cities, address the capacity needs of the future and, in the words of then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to join “the h…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
GB
Gareth Bacon
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and for updating the House on the initial findings of the HS2 reviews. I also thank her for advance notice and a copy of her statement. On the substance of the Secretary of State’s statement, I believe there is a broad consensus in this House on the central point that mi…
HA
Heidi Alexander
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his response, and indeed for the tone with which he made his comments. I was pleased to hear him acknowledge that mistakes had been made on HS2 by the previous Government. I think he described the path as not having been perfect—I would go so far as to say that it has been a shambolic mes…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Transport Committee.
School Estate16 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I thank the Minister for having taken the time to meet me and hear the case for Saint Benedict school to be rebuilt to be more sustainable, safe and secure. The neighbouring primary school, St Mary’s, is the greenest in the UK and an incredible example of what a rebuild can do to inspire young… minds. Will the Minister visit both schools to see, on the one hand, what has already been achieved in Derby, and on the other, the amazing opportunity we have to achieve so much more?
Hansard · 16 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
LE
Luke Evans
What steps she is taking to help improve the school estate.
BG
Ben Goldsborough
What steps her Department is taking to improve the quality of school buildings.
SM
Stephen Morgan
This Government are committed to sustained investment to improve the school estate, in order to give children the best start in life. We will increase annual capital investment for maintenance in real terms, rising from £2.1 billion this financial year to around £2.3 billion in 2029-30—over £400 million more than in 20…
LE
Luke Evans
I am grateful to the Minister for his answer. I draw his attention to the process for getting some of that funding. Battling Brook is a small primary school in the heart of Hinckley. It is well loved, but it has had problems with two of its classrooms having damp and falling into disrepair, so the school cannot use the…
SM
Stephen Morgan
The hon. Member has not been shy in lobbying me on these issues, but I would be very happy to meet him again. He will know that the Department provides advice and support on a case-by-case basis, and I am happy to discuss these issues with him further.
Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report16 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I welcome this evidence-led action on grooming gangs. It takes courage to come forward and share deeply traumatic experiences, so will the Home Secretary confirm that this inquiry will build on the evidence already collected and recommendations made over previous inquiries, investigations and reports, including the last national inquiry, which in 2022 produced a 200-page… report specifically on grooming gangs and looked at over 400 recommendations that had already been made? Crucially, will she ensure that there is no delay to the action that this Government are already taking to bring perpetrators to justice, stamp out these vile crimes and protect our vulnerable children?
Hansard · 16 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
YC
Yvette Cooper
With permission, I will update the House on the audit the Government commissioned from Baroness Casey on child sexual exploitation and grooming gangs, and on the action we are taking to tackle this vile crime—to put perpetrators behind bars and to provide the innocent victims of those crimes with support and justice. T…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Hopefully the report will be available in the Table Office for those Members who wish to see it. The Home Secretary quite rightly took longer than expected, and I have no problem with that. I say to the Leader of the Opposition, and to the Lib Dems, that it is available to them to do the same.
KB
Kemi Badenoch
I thank the Home Secretary for advance sight of the statement, although when I listened to it, I could not believe my ears. It was as if this was the Government’s plan all along, when we all know it is another U-turn. After months of pressure, the Prime Minister has finally accepted our call for a full, statutory, nati…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Order. Mr Swallow, I want you to set a good example. This is a very serious statement, and tempers are running high, but I certainly do not want to see you pointing, shouting and bawling in that way.
KB
Kemi Badenoch
Mr Speaker, they can point and shout as much as they like; they know the truth, just as we on the Conservative Benches do. Three times—[Interruption.] I will repeat myself: Labour MPs voted against the reasoned amendment to the children’s Bill; in Committee, they voted against that Bill; and they voted against the Crim…
Air India Plane Crash16 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I will not be alone in having shed tears over the heartbreaking photograph of the Royal Derby hospital doctor, Dr Prateek Joshi, his wife Dr Komi Vyas, and their three beautiful children, Miraya, Nakul and Pradyut, in the aeroplane moments before take-off and then the crash. I was with their friends and hospital colleagues at… Derby’s Hindu temple on Saturday, and it made real and vivid the tragedy of all the lives lost in this crash. Can the Minister tell us anything more about how the UK Government are supporting the Indian Government in their safety investigation, and those friends and families who are devastated by this tragedy?
Hansard · 16 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
CN
Caroline Nokes
Before we come to the statement, may I from the Chair pass on my condolences to the family of Ketan Shah, one of my constituents in Shipton Bellinger, who was tragically killed in the Air India crash? Ketan was a valued member of the local community, where he ran the village stores, and the whole community is devastate…
HF
Hamish Falconer
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to update the House on our response to Thursday’s devastating Air India plane crash. I know the whole House joins me and you in offering heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. The images of those boarding the flight are heartbreaking. F…
CN
Caroline Nokes
I call the shadow Foreign Secretary.
PP
Priti Patel
The tragic deaths of 242 men, women and children on Air India flight 171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick on Thursday, and the reports of at least 29 fatalities on the ground, are beyond distressing and upsetting. It is still difficult to comprehend the scale of the tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with everyo…
HF
Hamish Falconer
I thank the shadow Foreign Secretary for the tone of her questions. She rightly points to the scale of this; it is the single largest loss of British life in an aviation accident since 9/11, and one of the single largest losses of British national life overseas in one incident in a long time. Ten years ago this month, …
Fossil Fuels10 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Happy birthday, Mr Speaker. Today’s brilliant announcement backing Rolls-Royce to deliver small modular reactors creates more skilled jobs while also delivering clean, secure energy that does not rely on fossil fuels, even when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. Does the Minister agree that the decision shows British business, supported… by this Government, again leading the way?
Hansard · 10 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
TF
Tim Farron
What steps he is taking to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
MS
Michael Shanks
Happy birthday to you, Mr Speaker. We have been busy since we last met for oral questions. We have confirmed that rooftop solar panels will be standard on all new build homes and have funded £650 million of clean energy upgrades for over 200 buildings. We have also delivered the first solar projects for 11 schools, sec…
TF
Tim Farron
Happy birthday, Mr Speaker. Most of the 1,500 farms in Westmorland and Lonsdale have rivers or becks running through them. Since we are the most beautiful—and indeed wettest—place in England, that is an awful lot of potential, and mostly untapped, energy. Will the Secretary of State and the Minister meet me and hydro e…
MS
Michael Shanks
I will not be drawn on confirming whether the hon. Gentleman’s constituency is the most beautiful part of England—I will leave that to him. However, what he proposes sounds like a fantastic idea and I am happy to meet him to discuss it further. We see huge potential for a whole range of renewables. Those kinds of innov…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.
Winter Fuel Payment9 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
No one I have spoken to in Derby thinks that millionaires should be receiving the winter fuel allowance, but many will welcome the lifting of the threshold so that more people receive it. Does the Minister agree that this shows the Government listening; it shows money being targeted at where it is needed; and it… shows what can be done with a stable economy?
Hansard · 9 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
TB
Torsten Bell
On 21 May , the Prime Minister told this House that the Government wanted to extend eligibility for winter fuel payments to a wider range of pensioners in England and Wales. Today we are setting out how this will happen for the coming winter and the years ahead. This will provide certainty for pensioners and ensure tha…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
HW
Helen Whately
I feel for the Minister, sent here by his bosses to complete what must be the most humiliating climbdown a Government have ever faced in their first year in office. For nearly a year, the Conservatives have campaigned against this cut, and for nearly a year, the Government have tried to hold out. Just four weeks ago, I…
TB
Torsten Bell
I will deal directly with two of the questions raised because it is important to provide reassurance. The right hon. Lady asks what will happen with the estate of someone who is deceased. I want to be clear that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will never pursue any estate for the winter fuel payment alone. She also a…
NM
Navendu Mishra
Members on both sides of the House will have had a large volume of correspondence on this matter, so I thank the Minister for his statement. This fair policy change saves our public services £450 million by ensuring that the wealthiest pensioners do not continue to receive the winter fuel payment. Does he agree?
Regional Growth4 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
In the east midlands we have been raging for over a decade against the inequality that has left our region at the very bottom when it comes to spending on transport per person, and it has taken a Labour Government to start to put that right and begin to unlock the economic potential and raise… living standards. Would my right hon. Friend agree that this represents a considerable achievement of our Mayor Claire Ward and shows that, after years in the pit stop, the regions are finally being given the green light to grow?
Hansard · 4 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
DJ
Darren Jones
With permission, I shall update the House on the Government’s work to boost growth across the United Kingdom. As the Prime Minister set out in the plan for change, economic growth is the No. 1 mission of this Government. It is key to achieving the Government’s goals: higher wages for working people; delivering economic…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I think you missed a couple of railway stations out of your statement, Minister, but not to worry. I call the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
RF
Richard Fuller
I thank the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for his statement and for early sight of it. I will start with an area of agreement: it is a shared ambition to enable all parts of this country to participate in our growth and our future. Potential in the United Kingdom is everywhere, and it is right that the Government see…
DJ
Darren Jones
I am pleased to see the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury back in his place today; I always enjoy our exchanges. I welcome the fact that he supports our plans and sees the good value in them. I will respond to one particular question, and then answer the rest in the round: all the Green Book details will be publis…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Treasury Committee.
Prisons: Rehabilitation3 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Lack of work is a key driver of reoffending. Derby medical manufacturing company Pennine Healthcare has some offenders who work for the company on day release, but it is exploring a project to manufacture in prisons, providing skills and potential work on release. Does the Minister agree that, rather than the continuing revolving door of… reoffending, we need to ensure that there is both punishment and meaningful rehabilitation? May I invite the Minister to visit and learn more about the project?
Hansard · 3 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
DC
Danny Chambers
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of rehabilitative programmes in prisons.
SM
Susan Murray
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of rehabilitative programmes in prisons.
AB
Alison Bennett
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of rehabilitative programmes in prisons.
CV
Caroline Voaden
What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing support for rehabilitation programmes.
ND
Nicholas Dakin
A key priority of this Government is that our prisons rehabilitate offenders, making them better citizens rather than better criminals. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the fantastic prison staff, who mentor and support prisoners in custody every day. I saw at first hand the benefit of the creating future oppo…
Strategic Defence Review2 Jun 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Our British fleet of submarines are the most awesome and lethal machines in the world, keeping the peace unseen and unheard below the waves for generations. As my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary said, the power in that punch comes from Derby’s Rolls-Royce workers, who give them their nuclear reactor cores. Will the Defence… Secretary tell Members how we can be involved in the recommended “national endeavour” public communications campaign to make it absolutely clear how fundamental our at-sea deterrent is to our national security?
Hansard · 2 Jun 2025 · parliament.uk
JH
John Healey
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the strategic defence review. I have laid the full 130-page review before the House, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so and to make this statement on our first day back from the recess. The world has changed, and we must respond. The SDR is our Plan fo…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
JC
James Cartlidge
Before I turn to the substance, in responding to my point of order, the Secretary of State said that when he was in opposition, “We were not offered a briefing”, and “We had no advance copy of the defence review.”—[Interruption.]
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Order. Please! It has not been a good day so far, and I do not want any more interruptions.
JC
James Cartlidge
The Secretary of State said that this occurred when I was a Defence Minister. Actually, in March 2023, before I became a Minister, he was invited to a reading room on the morning of publication. On the Defence Command Paper refresh in July 2023, when I was Minister, he said he did not get a copy. I can confirm, and I a…
Defence Procurement: SMEs19 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are able to participate in defence procurement contracts.
Hansard · 19 May 2025 · parliament.uk
JS
Jeevun Sandher
What steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are able to participate in defence procurement contracts.
LC
Luke Charters
What steps his Department is taking to increase support for SMEs in the defence sector.
BS
Baggy Shanker
What steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are able to participate in defence procurement contracts.
JH
John Healey
The House will note that this afternoon we are without the Minister for Veterans and People, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) . He is halfway up Everest with a group of soldiers, raising funds for armed forces charities and raising the profile of veterans, and I am sure that the whole House…
JS
Jeevun Sandher
I, too, wish the Veterans Minister the best of luck as he climbs Everest, and I am sure we all agree: rather him than us. In today’s world warfare is changing dramatically. Drones costing $1,000 can destroy tanks worth $10 million, but the innovation cycle for those drones is rapid; they are designed to become obsolete…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
When I spoke at the Make UK Defence summit in Derby, I met with lots of small and medium-sized businesses in the sector. The issues that they raised with me were echoed during my visit last week to a local composites manufacturer, Pentaxia, including accessing finance to grow and complicated defence procurement process…
Topical Questions19 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I met Major Eales and the Derby and Derbyshire Ex-Services Association, who do so much with fellow veterans at events all year round. Following the launch of Operation Valour, will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the work that it and other associations do and tell us what is being done to encourage… and recognise volunteers who support our veterans?
Hansard · 19 May 2025 · parliament.uk
AM
Anneliese Midgley
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
JH
John Healey
Last year, we pledged to the British public that if we were elected we would seek a new security pact with the European Union. Today we have made good on that promise. The UK-EU security and defence partnership is an ambitious agreement. It will strengthen NATO, and it will grow the economy. In a further demonstration …
AM
Anneliese Midgley
Abbey Group in Knowsley partners with Sweden’s Saab to produce the world-class Saab Barracuda camouflage system used by the British Army. It is a prime example of British manufacturing at its best: backed by international collaboration and providing good jobs. However, small and medium-sized enterprises such as Abbey n…
JH
John Healey
We have committed to set new SME spending targets and establish a new SME support centre. In the last week, we have launched a new tech scaler, and we will strengthen the SME voice on the new defence industrial joint council.
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
New Clause 10 - No obligation to provide assistance etc16 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Is the right hon. and learned Member as concerned as I am that the panel does not even need to consider looking at evidence from family, friends, or those caring for or treating the person? Is he also concerned that although the panel might be required to hear from the person, that will only be… in exceptional circumstances and there will be no requirement to ask any questions at all?
Hansard · 16 May 2025 · parliament.uk
KL
Kim Leadbeater
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment (a) to new clause 10, after subsection 8(b), insert— “(8A) Nothing in Schedule (Protection from Detriment) prevents an employer who has chosen not to participate in the provision of assistance in accordance with this Act from prohibiting their employee…
KL
Kim Leadbeater
It is a privilege to open the debate on this next important stage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. It seems a long time ago that we held the Second Reading debate in November on what many of us felt was a very proud day for Parliament, when we saw an emotional and passionate but largely respectful debat…
JW
John Whitby
My hon. Friend mentioned many real stories influencing this debate. I will mention one more: my constituent Mick Murray, who is in the Public Gallery today. Mick helped two close friends, Bob and Ann, to make the painful journey to Dignitas. Both simply wanted to die at home with dignity and surrounded by loved ones; i…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Order. We will set the example by following the rules of the House. We will have short interventions, not speeches. There are a load of other Members.
Rail Sector: Skills15 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that workers have necessary skills for the rail sector.
Hansard · 15 May 2025 · parliament.uk
HA
Heidi Alexander
A skilled workforce is key to delivering the railways that passengers need, and I am working closely with colleagues across Government to ensure that we train up the right people in the right way for the jobs of the future. As my hon. Friend will know from our visit to Derby last week, we are also taking action to ensu…
HA
Heidi Alexander
Developing an industry workforce plan will be a key priority for Great British Railways, and I am confident that we will be making the most of the expertise that already exists in places such as Derby. The fact that Derby will soon become the new national headquarters of GBR will mean more high-skilled jobs for a city …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Derby is the centre of the largest rail cluster in Europe—an east midlands cluster employing 45,000 people. There is an incredible range of roles in the sector, from engineering to driving, digital to welding, advanced manufacturing to customer services, and many more. However, with a third of workers in the rail secto…
Youth Services15 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
My hon. Friend will know that we have some incredible youth services in Derby. He has mentioned some, but there is also the local YMCA, the Derby Youth Alliance and DE23 Active. Does he agree that it is disgraceful how many other services have closed because of Tory austerity cuts?
Hansard · 15 May 2025 · parliament.uk
NI
Natasha Irons
I beg to move, That this House has considered the long-term funding of youth services. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing time for this debate, Members for supporting it, and all the organisations that have provided material for today’s contributions. This Government have stated that they are on a mi…
AS
Andrew Slaughter
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. She points out the extraordinary cuts in the funding for youth services—over 70% under the last Government—with 50% of centres lost. Can I take this opportunity to say that some centres have thrived and that continue, such as the Sulgrave youth club, which has its centenary nex…
CN
Caroline Nokes
Order. The hon. Gentleman is an experienced enough parliamentarian to know that that was a very long intervention.
NI
Natasha Irons
My hon. Friend is quite right: there has been a 73% decline in funding for youth services. I congratulate the organisation in his constituency on its centenary.
CK
Chris Kane
Does my hon. Friend also recognise that there is also a funding crisis in Scotland, with the Scottish Government starving local authorities of the funding they need to provide these vital services? This is not just in England; it is a UK-wide problem, and the SNP Scottish Government are certainly not making it easy.
Protection of Prison Staff12 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Violence in prisons escalated for years under the previous Government, who left our prisons at breaking point. What is the Minister doing to bring down levels of violence in our jails?
Hansard · 12 May 2025 · parliament.uk
RJ
Robert Jenrick
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if she will make a statement on the failure of the prison estate to protect staff from serious and sustained violence by high-risk inmates.
ND
Nicholas Dakin
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. I am shocked and saddened to hear about the serious assault against a prison officer that took place on Thursday 8 May at HMP Belmarsh. My thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the brave, hard-working prison officer at this time. We will not tolerate any viole…
RJ
Robert Jenrick
Let me place on record our sympathies to the prison officer injured at HMP Belmarsh. We wish them a full recovery and thank all prison officers for their courage in the face of growing danger. Let us be clear about what is happening in our prisons. Violence against officers has spiralled out of control. In just the pas…
ND
Nicholas Dakin
We are managing the most complex people in the most complex system. Our prison staff have to manage extremely dangerous people, and they do it with real bravery. We will do whatever it takes to keep them safe. That is why we have already taken the actions that we have. All prisons carry out regular risk assessments and…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Justice Committee.
Topical Questions6 May 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Last week, this Labour Government announced the freezing of prescription charges, putting pounds back in the pockets of people in Derby. I have visited pharmacies, including the Littleover pharmacy, which provide essential care and support for their communities. The Conservatives underfunded pharmacies and more than 750 closed across England between 2021 and 2024. What is… the Minister doing to support community pharmacies so that we do not lose these vital local services?
Hansard · 6 May 2025 · parliament.uk
YY
Yuan Yang
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
WS
Wes Streeting
GPs are at the front door to our NHS. Today, I can announce that we are supporting more than 1,000 surgeries across the country to modernise their buildings, backed by more than £102 million—the biggest public investment in GP facilities for five years. Following years of neglect, this vital funding will create additio…
YY
Yuan Yang
I very much welcome today’s announcement on refurbishing 1,000 GP surgeries across the country, because I have made it my priority to meet with as many GPs as possible in my constituency. Our local GPs have told me that our health centres need more physical space in order to accommodate growing local needs and facilita…
WS
Wes Streeting
I would be delighted to do so. Since we came into government, we have made this announcement today, put £889 million into general practice and agreed a contract with GPs, including reform for patient access and services. We are fixing the front door to the NHS, but of course that will take time. We recruited 1,500 more…
DJ
Dr Caroline Johnson
Taking medicines on time is important, especially for those with conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy. Dr Acheson, an A&E consultant who has time-critical medicines for his own Parkinson’s disease, understands that well. He has been running a quality improvement programme to ensure that time-critical medicines are …
Clause 1 - Sentencing guidelines about pre-sentence reports30 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Pre-sentence reports, as the Minister has set out, are important in considering punishments that can address offending behaviour and help reduce the likelihood of reoffending. But, very often, probation is stretched so thin that officers do not have time to complete them. What will the Minister do to ensure that, where a pre-sentence report is… required, probation has the capacity to do that important work?
Hansard · 30 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
JW
Jeremy Wright
I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 6, leave out “different personal characteristics of an offender” and insert “an offender’s membership of a particular demographic cohort.”
CN
Caroline Nokes
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment 3, page 1, line 7, at end insert— “(2A) After subsection (7) insert— ‘(7A) In the case of guidelines within subsection (4) about pre-sentence reports, the Council must, after making any amendments of the guidelines which it considers appropriate, obtai…
JW
Jeremy Wright
It is worthwhile at the outset of all debates on this Bill to restate that it is about pre-sentence reports that give information to sentencers that may be used in sentencing decisions, not about the passing of sentences themselves. Specifically, the Bill is about the guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council to sent…
LE
Luke Evans
I defer to my right hon. and learned Friend’s experience, but is there not an argument for every case to have a pre-sentence report in order to truly understand what an individual has faced and whether there are any mitigating factors? I appreciate that that could create a backlog for these services, but is it not one …
JW
Jeremy Wright
My hon. Friend makes a fair point in relation to offenders who hover on the border between community sentences and custodial sentences, but he will know that, in the Crown court at least, the majority of such offenders already have a pre-sentence report. Of course, there are also offenders who come before the courts fo…
Football Governance Bill [Lords]28 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
It is a big week for Derby County, as we fight valiantly to stay in the championship. There are no guarantees of who will rise and fall in the football league, but we trust that our clubs themselves will go on. To be able to speak in support of a piece of legislation that gives… more control and certainty back to our communities is a great privilege. Our club’s recent financial struggles are part of the reason we have this Bill. In 2021, the heartbeat of the club—the fans—had no say in or influence on the financial mismanagement that led to the club going into administration and the 21-point deduction we saw as a penalty. We ended up relegated to league one. The RamsTrust, one of our fan associations, set out that the most important provisions of the Bill—certainly those that will resonate most powerfully with supporters of Derby County—are those that seek to improve financial resilience in the game. The RamsTrust asks local MPs to support the Bill, so I am glad that all Derby and Derbyshire constituencies have Labour MPs to help us get this Bill through, despite opposition from the Conservatives. I stand with fans today, as I did when I marched alongside over 10,000 fans to Pride Park on 30 January 2022 , carrying banners and singing in solidarity to demand that the club was saved. It was saved by local fan and businessman David Clowes, after a disastrous attempt to buy the club by Chris Kirchner, who was sentenced to jail for fraud last summer. My hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Jon Pearce) rightly said at the time that there is no clearer example of the urgent need for better governance of football in this country and to protect football clubs. I hope that some good can come from that terrible time for Derby County fans and that the Bill will make it less likely for such a situation to happen to others. The Bill is so important in giving fans a louder voice. My brilliant staff member Sarah Chambers already uses her impressively loud singing voice to sing Der
Hansard · 28 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
JC
Judith Cummins
The reasoned amendment in the name of Stuart Andrew has been selected.
LN
Lisa Nandy
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. Today is a day of celebration for football fans in towns, villages and cities across England. Football would be nothing without the fans, and today we put them back at the heart of the game, where they belong. Football is genuinely our national game—it is the beat…
AS
Andrew Slaughter
I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing forward this Bill and on strengthening the previous Government’s Bill, particularly when it comes to financial sustainability. Not only are football clubs the beating heart of our communities; they give a lot back to those communities. As a former Hammersmith councillor, she wi…
LN
Lisa Nandy
I agree with my hon. Friend, at least about the Bill—we perhaps differ on what is the best football club in the world. I also commend him on his long support for not just his football club, but his community, in which it plays such an important part.
AM
Andrew Murrison
Before the Secretary of State goes any further in her speech, will she take the opportunity to pay tribute to Dame Tracey Crouch, whose work in government laid the foundations for what the Secretary of State is talking about now? Since independence should be at the heart of everything we do, will she also say that it w…
Engagements23 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
This time last year, train manufacturing at Alstom in Derby was grinding to a halt. On a single day, workers with a combined welding experience of nearly 1,000 years walked out of its doors, but the whole city came together with crucial backing from this Prime Minister. What a difference a year makes, with Alstom… saved and set to host the greatest gathering to celebrate 200 years of rail and our railways coming back into public ownership, with the headquarters of Great British Railways in Derby. Does the Prime Minister agree that, with Labour, we are back on track?
Hansard · 23 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
SD
Steve Darling
If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 23 April.
KS
Keir Starmer
The entire House will join me in paying tribute to His Holiness Pope Francis, an extraordinary man. His lifelong work on fairness will leave a lasting legacy. People of all backgrounds and beliefs were inspired by his humility and compassion, and the outpouring of grief and love that we have seen in the last two days o…
SD
Steve Darling
May I also wish those in the Chamber a happy St George’s day? After a cost of living crisis overseen by the chaotic Conservative Government, many in the tourist industry in Torbay believed that they had weathered the storm, as did those in Devon and Cornwall. However, many in the tourist industry in Torbay fear that th…
KS
Keir Starmer
May I start by wishing Jennie, the hon. Gentleman’s guide dog, a very happy birthday for yesterday? She is six years old—although she does not look particularly interested in my answer, I have to say. I recognise the importance of tourism to the hon. Gentleman’s beautiful constituency—I have been there many times, and …
CN
Charlotte Nichols
The criminal injuries compensation scheme has not been uprated with inflation since 2012, which means that in real terms, compensation for victims of violent crime, including rape and child abuse, is worth less than half of what it was then. The consultation response published before Easter said that there was not the …
Sewage23 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
We have the stunning River Derwent running through Derby, but it was polluted by sewage 2,675 times in 2024, lasting over 15,000 hours. I invite the right hon. Member to take responsibility for cutting the Environment Agency budget by half, leaving it without the powers and resources to combat this kind of sewage.
Hansard · 23 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I inform the House that the Speaker has selected amendment (a) tabled in the name of the Prime Minister.
TF
Tim Farron
I beg to move, That this House regrets the persistent scandal of raw sewage being dumped by water companies into rivers, lakes and coastal areas; notes with deep concern that just 14% of rivers and lakes in England are in good ecological health; condemns the previous Government for letting water company bosses get away…
SD
Steve Darling
Over Easter in Torbay, we had five sewage spills according to the Surfers Against Sewage app. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is extremely disappointing to say the least that, rather than colleagues just getting their cossie and towel to go swimming at their favourite swimming spot, they must now also check the sewag…
TF
Tim Farron
I agree with my hon. Friend, who makes a really good point about his own communities. That is what we are trying to address today by bringing practical solutions to prevent this outrage. That 106% increase in the duration of sewage spills in just two years has been explained away on the record by water industry bosses …
AB
Alison Bennett
There were 754 spills in my constituency last year alone. We do not want to see those numbers anywhere, but in a constituency that does not have a major waterway, that is absurdly high. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we want to start genuinely holding these water companies to account, a great place to start would be…
Reoffending: Young People22 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps her Department is taking to help reduce levels of reoffending among young people.
Hansard · 22 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
JS
Jeevun Sandher
What steps her Department is taking to help reduce levels of reoffending among young people.
ND
Nicholas Dakin
The Government are determined to reduce youth reoffending as part of our safer streets mission. Despite the huge fiscal challenges we inherited, we have been able to increase our core funding to youth offending teams across the country, allowing them to support children away from crime.
JS
Jeevun Sandher
Constituents across my community of Loughborough, Shepshed and the villages have been facing the scourge of offroad bikes, often ridden by young reoffenders. That causes havoc for residents, it is dangerous for pedestrians, and can be fatal for those who are on those bikes. Those young reoffenders often have little els…
ND
Nicholas Dakin
My hon. Friend is exactly right. In the past, antisocial behaviour has been too easily dismissed as low-level, but as he rightly describes, it can cause real distress and misery to our communities. I am pleased that the new Crime and Policing Bill includes measures to enhance police powers to seize nuisance offroad bik…
ND
Nicholas Dakin
My hon. Friend is exactly right. What Engineered Learning is doing is a clear win-win, teaching welding skills and moving people away from crime. The Department will continue funding youth offending teams to work with local education and employment providers to help young people get the skills they need to have product…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Engineered Learning in Derby teaches welding skills to young people at risk of offending and reoffending. A qualified, experienced welder can earn more than £50,000, yet we have a national shortage of welders. Does the Minister agree that preventing reoffending and securing the skills our country needs is a win-win, an…
Topical Questions8 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The defence sector is a vital part of our local economy in Derby, particularly with the landmark £9 billion deal struck with Rolls-Royce, which is supporting the Royal Navy’s submarines and providing a major jobs boost. Does the Chancellor agree that national security goes hand in hand with economic security and, in turn, financial security… for households?
Hansard · 8 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
DM
Douglas McAllister
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
DJ
Darren Jones
Mr Speaker, you shocked me by moving to topical questions so quickly, but I have now found my page and am ready to answer them.
DJ
Darren Jones
From ferries to the National Care Service, we have seen failure after failure from the SNP in Scotland, including a track record of waste. In contrast, this Labour Government are tackling waste and investing in frontline services such as our national health service, which has seen waiting lists fall for each of the pas…
DM
Douglas McAllister
The Chancellor set out in the spring statement a clear plan to drive better value for taxpayers, including through the transformation fund, which will transform frontline delivery while making savings in the long term. Does he agree that that is in stark contrast to the SNP Scottish Government’s record of waste?
DJ
Darren Jones
As my hon. Friend knows, we have given the Scottish Government the largest increase in spending since devolution began. The people of Scotland expect that money to be spent well, which we are doing in England by transforming public services and improving the national health service. However, given that SNP Members are …
Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate7 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Today’s news on support for our automotive industry in the move towards electric vehicles will be welcomed by my constituents, including those who work for the nearby Toyota plant at Burnaston. Will the Secretary of State continue this encouraging level of engagement and responsiveness to industry concerns? Will she confirm that, to make sure that… the transition is a success, this Government’s wider industrial strategy will further back British auto manufacturers?
Hansard · 7 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
HA
Heidi Alexander
With permission, I shall make a statement about the zero emission vehicle mandate. Today, this Government are giving British car makers certainty and support on the transition to electric vehicles, as we set out plans to back industry in the face of global economic headwinds. We have worked in close partnership and at …
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I think, on his birthday, we should hear from the shadow Secretary of State.
GB
Gareth Bacon
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I will not embarrass myself by announcing how old I am, but it is far too old.
GB
Gareth Bacon
I thank the Secretary of State—[Interruption.] That was a very helpful intervention by the hon. Gentleman; he is completely right. I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and for advance sight of it. The announcement by the United States of America that 25% tariffs will be imposed on UK automotive exports has…
HA
Heidi Alexander
I also extend my birthday wishes to the shadow Secretary of State. I hope he is grateful for the two birthday presents I have given him: not only a statement but a general debate, so that we can face each other across the Dispatch Box not once but twice today. It is rich for the shadow Secretary of State to blame uncer…
Road Maintenance7 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
According to the RAC, Derbyshire is the area with the most potholes on record in England. The Conservative-run county of Derbyshire had a whopping 90,000 potholes last year, with the next-worst area having more than 20,000 fewer. Potholes are not just an issue for motorists, damaging their cars and racking up big repair costs; as… the Secretary of State was absolutely right to say, they are a safety issue. For cyclists, pedestrians, people using mobility aids and those with visual impairments, poorly maintained road surfaces can make even heading to the local shops more dangerous than it needs to be. This Government’s £1.6 billion investment in potholes means £75 million for the East Midlands combined county authority, so Derby and Derbyshire will benefit hugely from this Government’s funding, but we all know that it is the job of both central Government and local government to get the work done. As Derbyshire county council has been Conservative-led since 2017, fixing those potholes only scratches the surface of the work that is needed. On 1 May , residents in Derbyshire will have the opportunity to vote for a Labour-run county council that, together with this Government, can work to provide the properly maintained roads that we want. In Derby, we are approaching the third anniversary of the closure of the bridge to Darley Abbey Mills as a result of disrepair and safety concerns. Darley Abbey Mills is a beautiful UNESCO site with a rich history dating back to the 1700s, and it is now home to dozens of businesses, from Darley Abbey Wines to Burton’s Automotive, and from the West Mill wedding venue to Reinvention Fitness. The closure of the bridge was hugely damaging for businesses and difficult for residents. Derby city council built a temporary pedestrian bridge in 2022, which is a really important mitigation. It is functional, but it is not reflective of the stunning site on the River Derwent, and it is only temporary. Local Labour councillors and I have long calle
Hansard · 7 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
HA
Heidi Alexander
I beg to move, That this House has considered road maintenance. For too long, Britain has been plagued by potholes. Too many people in too many parts of the country have had their everyday journeys turned into frustrating obstacle courses by our pockmarked roads. It is worse than that, however, because cratered roads c…
CV
Christopher Vince
My right hon. Friend reminds me of the road on which I live, where drivers trying to avoid a pothole in the road went on to the pavement, which led to the pavement being damaged. Does she agree that fixing potholes quickly wills save pavements as well?
HA
Heidi Alexander
My hon. Friend describes a win-win situation.
MO
Melanie Onn
At my constituency surgery on Friday, my constituent Helen came to see me because she has had a terrible fall on a badly maintained pavement, and she has really been struggling to find out who is responsible for maintaining the pavement. Does anything in the funding brought forward by this Government enable quick and e…
HA
Heidi Alexander
Local authorities are free to use the money as they see fit, as long as they are using it in a way that represents value for money for the taxpayer. The money can be used for work on roads, pavements or structures. On the issue of responsibility raised by my hon. Friend’s constituent, that will be for the local highway…
East Midlands: Local Authorities and Economic Growth7 Apr 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate and on his powerful comments about the potholes in Nottinghamshire, but according to the RAC, the worst area for potholes is Conservative-run Derbyshire. Does he agree that it is about time that we got councils that will work with the Government to ensure we have the… roads that people need—roads that are not full of potholes?
Hansard · 7 Apr 2025 · parliament.uk
MP
Michael Payne
Thank you for the opportunity to speak in this evening’s debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for being here to respond to the debate. As my constituency neighbour, I know he is as passionate about Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and the east midlands as I am. I refer hon. Members to my entry i…
JS
Jim Shannon
I commend the hon. Member for securing this debate and he is right to highlight the issues, but the growth commission set up by the mayor is key to investment and the east midlands must make the most of the freeport it enjoys, which the Chancellor announced just a few weeks ago. That gives hope and vision for the futur…
MP
Michael Payne
The hon. Gentleman is right to pay testament to the Chancellor and the Labour Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, for unlocking nearly £1 billion in growth and investment from the freeport at East Midlands airport. He knows Northern Ireland politics far better than I do, but I think my hon. Friend on the Treasury …
AT
Adam Thompson
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. I was recently in discussion with the managing director of a local small and medium-sized enterprise based on Merlin Way in Ilkeston in my constituency. He expressed great frustration at the barriers to growth that his firm experiences with planning, high build…
MP
Michael Payne
My hon. Friend is a good friend and a powerful advocate for his constituents. He is right that devolution in the east midlands needs to go further and faster, because areas such as Greater Manchester and the west midlands are much further ahead on their journey. Giving the East Midlands mayoral authority trailblazer st…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Derby city council is working with partners and beginning to deliver transformative regeneration. Vaillant Live, a new 3,500-capacity performance venue, has just opened. A refurbished market hall is about to open, a new university business school is nearly finished, and the Government are delivering £20 million to our …
New Clause 1 - Draft proposals for establishing new executive agency31 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Derby is seeing a fresh boost to its city centre with a new performance venue, a restored marketplace and the Friar Gate goods yard, which had stood derelict for 50 years, but is now being transformed into 276 new homes. What we do not want is for our ambition for our city to be held… back by skills shortages. Does my hon. Friend agree that, rather than the dither and delay proposed by Conservative Members, we need to get on with this legislation so that we can train the next generation of bricklayers, roofers, plasterers, scaffolders and electricians that our country so desperately needs?
Hansard · 31 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
IS
Ian Sollom
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
NG
Nusrat Ghani
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: New clause 2—Report on the impact on Higher Education— “(1) Within one year of the passing of this Act, the Secretary of State must publish a report on the impact of this Act on the provision of degree apprenticeships in England. (2) The Report must include an i…
IS
Ian Sollom
In considering the transfer of functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, we face fundamental questions about the Government’s accountability and the future structure of our skills system. While modest in size, the Bill has far-reaching implications for that system, and for millions of le…
GA
Gideon Amos
Does my hon. Friend agree that the new clause would help colleges such as Bridgwater and Taunton college, the biggest provider of apprenticeships in England? Will he join me, and other Members, in encouraging those colleges on their path towards awarding their own degrees?
IS
Ian Sollom
I entirely endorse what my hon. Friend has said, and I certainly encourage those colleges on their path. As I will explain, my new clause will enable Skills England to support them more fully. Equally concerning is the need for effective cross-departmental co-ordination. Skills policy does not exist in isolation. Skill…
Topical Questions27 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
East Midlands Railway has a new fleet of trains that will be on the tracks this year—a £400 million investment. These trains can be powered by electrified tracks, but can revert to diesel when travelling on the parts of the midland main line that are not yet electrified. As electrification means cleaner air, less diesel… and quieter and faster trains, does the Secretary of State agree that the more of the track that can be electrified, the better it will be for passengers, communities and the environment?
Hansard · 27 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
JB
Julia Buckley
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
HA
Heidi Alexander
I put on record my thanks to all those involved in responding to the major incidents that we have seen unfold on land and at sea in recent weeks. The collisions of vessels in the North sea and the fire at the electricity substation serving Heathrow have caused disruption and distress. I am pleased that recovery has bee…
JB
Julia Buckley
Last weekend in my constituency, our Shrewsbury Moves festival celebrated progress towards our 10-year plan to implement more inclusive and integrated public transport across our beautiful medieval town. What additional transport is the Department making available to historic and economically thriving towns such as Shr…
HA
Heidi Alexander
The Aviation Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane) , tells me that he was at Shrewsbury Moves on his wedding anniversary and had a very good time. The integrated national transport strategy will set the long-term vision for transport in England. Different places face different ch…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
New Clause 11 - Age verification in relation to tobacco and vaping products etc26 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
There is growing concern about the use of vapes as a tool to entice children into sexual exploitation. My probing amendment, new clause 5, was prompted by a police officer in Derby concerned about this national issue. I am grateful to the Minister for meeting me to discuss it. Does my hon. Friend agree that… we must acknowledge the use of vapes to groom children, and ensure that licensing authorities and the police work together to crack down on any retailers connected to such activities?
Hansard · 26 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
AD
Ashley Dalton
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
JC
Judith Cummins
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: New clause 1—Review of contaminated e-liquid— “(1) Within six months of the passage of this Act, the Secretary of State must conduct a review into the prevalence of contaminated e-liquid in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. (2) The review required u…
AD
Ashley Dalton
I would like to start by thanking all right hon. and hon. Members for their invaluable contributions during the passage of the Bill to date, and in particular, members of the Public Bill Committee for providing insight, scrutiny and debate. I am honoured to have taken on responsibility for this Bill. It is a watershed …
JR
Joshua Reynolds
Trading standards are really important and obviously, therefore, so are fixed penalty notices, so will the Minister support amendment 1, which would mean that any fixed penalty notice sums will be retained by local authorities to spend on public health, thus saving the NHS money, as she mentioned earlier?
AD
Ashley Dalton
As the hon. Member will know, there are already measures in the Bill that allow some of the fines to be retained—they can certainly be retained to make it cost-neutral for local authorities—but I am sure we will explore that issue later on. The Bill contains regulation-making powers on a range of aspects of product req…
Support for Veterans24 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I visited Richard, a veteran, in his home, provided by the Derventio Housing Trust. The trust, based in Derby, offers homes for people without them, including those who have served in our armed forces. Volunteers from Derventio recently renovated a house in the city specifically for veterans. Does the Minister agree that such support is… vital, and will he tell us what the Government are doing to help with the provision of housing, care and support for our veterans in need?
Hansard · 24 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
CM
Calum Miller
What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces.
TG
Tom Gordon
What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces.
AC
Alistair Carns
I have always said that we train people to join the military and to be in the military, but we do not necessarily train them to be a civilian after they leave. That is why this Government have taken swift action to support veterans upon leaving. Last month I launched Operation Ascend, which will help veterans thrive in…
CM
Calum Miller
I recently visited the Heyford and Bicester veterans group in my constituency, which was set up by Ian Ridley to support fellow veterans throughout the region. This fantastic initiative brings together a range of services from charities, the NHS and local authorities to support veterans. However, when speaking to Ian, …
AC
Alistair Carns
I thank all the people, most of whom are probably volunteers, who are supporting veterans in the hon. Member’s constituency. Two days ago I visited another tri-service veterans hub that is delivering, I think, exactly the same types of services. We often find that while there is a great deal support out there, it is di…
Business of the House20 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Being deaf should not be a barrier to sport. I am so pleased that Macie White, a Derby North constituent, has been selected to be part of GB’s deaf women’s football team competing in the Deaflympics in Tokyo later this year. Macie has to fundraise to cover the costs of her expenses. Will the Leader… of the House join me in wishing the GB team good luck? May we have a Government statement on how we can encourage participation and sponsorship for deaf sports at both grassroots and elite level?
Hansard · 20 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the business for next week?
LP
Lucy Powell
I shall. The business for the week commencing 24 March includes: Monday 24 March —Second Reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Tuesday 25 March —If necessary, consideration of Lords amendments, followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Non-domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, fo…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Leader of the House.
JN
Jesse Norman
Thank you very much indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hope that you and the House will excuse me if I start on a very personal note. Almost exactly 24 hours ago, my father, Torquil Norman, died at the age of 91. He was an extraordinary man. He flew Seafires and Sea Furies during his national service in the Fleet Air Arm.…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
Before the Leader of the House responds, I wish to put on the record my condolences to the right hon. Gentleman, and my love and prayers. He and I spent some time together in a Department. He was a top gentleman to work with, and his father will have been very proud.
Employment Rights Bill11 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and the fact that I am a proud trade union member. I give my full support to the measures in this landmark Bill. In Derby we make things, from nuclear reactors that power submarines to the trains, cars and aeroplane engines that… get people and goods where they need to go, and food production operations that help put food on our tables. We do not just have large companies with big economies of scale; we also have thousands of small and medium-sized companies. Many businesses that I have visited—large and small—are investing in their workforce, want to pay them properly and want to provide stable, secure work that enables their employees to build lives and families, but they want a level playing field so that they are not undercut by competitors that do not play by the rules, that avoid their responsibilities and that exploit those who work for them. When people are stuck in insecure, low-paid work, planning for their future is impossible. It is wrong that so many people have no idea whether they will have five hours of work or 50 in a week, wrong that they have no idea whether they will earn enough to pay their bills, and wrong that they can have paid for childcare, be on a bus to work and get a call saying they are no longer needed. What is shocking is that we have 2.4 million people in irregular work, such as those on zero-hours or low-hours contracts, or in agency jobs. I am proud that this Government, through this Bill, are taking action to end exploitative zero-hours contracts, and that amendments 32 and 33 will ensure that agency workers are also protected. On Second Reading of this groundbreaking Bill, I spoke about the importance of enforcement. A right is not worth the paper it is written on unless it is enforced; and the provisions that we make, the guidance that we set and the laws that we pass are only as strong as the enforcement. For part of my career as a barrister, I had the
Hansard · 11 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
GS
Gregory Stafford
It is always a pleasure to follow the King. [Laughter.] I rise on behalf of my constituents in Farnham, Bordon, Haslemere and Liphook who are opposed to this fundamentally anti-business Bill. Nothing has highlighted more clearly than this debate the old adage that where we think the Labour party is wrong, it thinks tha…
LJ
Lincoln Jopp
Among the 5,000 small businesses in my hon. Friend’s constituency, has my hon. Friend come across one that is in favour of the Bill or lobbied him to vote for it?
GS
Gregory Stafford
My hon. Friend makes a good point. I am happy for the Minister to come to Farnham and Bordon—or Haslemere, Liphook or any other of my villages—to meet all the people who tell me what a damaging effect the Bill will have on their small business. As my hon. Friend pointed out, the simple fact is that the Government have …
SW
Steve Witherden
I am proud to declare my membership of Unite the union and the NASUWT, and I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Before I was elected, I was a teacher for 20 years. Today, as we welcome this transformative legislation, I think of my former students. Their lives will be significant…
CV
Christopher Vince
My hon. Friend is giving one of his trademark passionate speeches. Does he agree with me, as a former teacher myself, that removing fire and rehire will give the young people that he used to teach the confidence that when they go into the workplace, they will look at careers and not just jobs?
Crime and Policing Bill10 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The Government’s commitment to introducing a Young Futures programme to prevent young people from being drawn into crime is welcome, especially as youth services and hubs were hollowed out under the Conservatives. Does the Home Secretary agree that prevention must be at the centre of the mission to tackle knife crime in our communities and… our country?
Hansard · 10 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
YC
Yvette Cooper
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Crime and Policing Bill will make our streets safer, put neighbourhood policing back at the heart of communities after years of neglect, give law enforcement the powers it needs to protect the public and tackle the most serious violence, help communities to ta…
WM
Wendy Morton
The right hon. Lady makes an important point about neighbourhood policing. Does she agree that local police stations should be integral to this plan?
YC
Yvette Cooper
Local police stations are a matter for local forces, but they can be a central part of neighbourhood policing, which, sadly, has been heavily cut back in recent years. In fact, in many areas of the country, neighbourhood policing has been cut by a third or nearly half. At the heart of the Government’s plan is rebuildin…
YC
Yvette Cooper
I will give way first to my hon. Friend and then to the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Ben Obese-Jecty) .
CV
Christopher Vince
A report by Harlow council in 2023 stated that fewer than half of residents in Harlow felt safe going outside after dark. Does my right hon. Friend see the neighbourhood policing guarantee as part of the way of solving that problem?
Topical Questions6 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Since the Labour Government came to power, the list of patients waiting more than 65 weeks for treatment at my local hospital trust in Derby has gone down by a whopping 82%. With national waiting lists having fallen for four months in a row and the early delivery of the commitment to provide an additional… 2 million NHS appointments, does the Minister agree that our plan for change is already under way? How is the Department working to embed that culture of delivery right across the Government?
Hansard · 6 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
SD
Sarah Dyke
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
PM
Pat McFadden
Since the last Cabinet Office questions, new procurement rules have come into force, which will help to deliver growth, drive value for money and, crucially, give small businesses greater access to the nearly £400 billion of Government procurement. They also include stronger new powers to exclude and debar suppliers on…
SD
Sarah Dyke
Women in rural areas often face additional barriers to their engagement in politics, at both local government and national Government levels. The reasons can vary: they may be social, cultural, structural, institutional, or often a perceived lack of knowledge. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, what steps is th…
ER
Ellie Reeves
I thank the hon. Member for that important question. She is absolutely right to highlight the barriers to politics that women in rural areas can face. We want more women in rural areas and around the country to be elected to local government and to Parliament. We should be proud that this House now has its highest ever…
ER
Ellie Reeves
I am delighted to hear about the falling waiting lists in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Waiting lists are indeed falling. Last month we announced that we had met our first step pledge to deliver 2 million additional NHS appointments seven months early. We are determined to keep up the pace of delivering our plan for c…
Business of the House6 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Seven-year-old Skye has been bringing joy to the lives of residents at the award-winning Brookfields nursing home in my constituency, whether playing bingo, watching a film or chatting over dinner. Does the Leader of the House agree with me that everyone needs to be a bit more like Skye, and could we have a debate… on the physical and mental benefits, to both the young and the elderly, of being together?
Hansard · 6 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
LP
Lucy Powell
I shall. The business for the week commencing 10 March includes: Monday 10 March —Second Reading of the Crime and Policing Bill. Tuesday 11 March —Remaining stages of the Employment Rights Bill, day one. Wednesday 12 March —Remaining stages of the Employment Rights Bill, day two. Thursday 13 March —General debate on th…
JN
Jesse Norman
Mr Speaker, may I first associate myself very strongly with your kind remarks about Peter Hipkins and his service to this House? We join all colleagues in celebration of International Women’s Day this Saturday. I am sure the whole House will also share my deep concern at the latest news in relation to Ukraine and will …
LP
Lucy Powell
I join you, Mr Speaker, in passing on our condolences to the family of Peter Hipkins, who gave long service in this House. I also wish peace and blessings to those observing Ramadan and those marking Lent. Today is also World Book Day, a day to celebrate our favourite books and authors—and, I have to say, every working…
MT
Marie Tidball
Flooding has caused heartache for families and communities in my constituency. In order to be protected from extreme flooding, they desperately need Sheffield city council’s excellent proposals for the upper Don flood alleviation scheme, including work on the Clough Dike culvert and Whitley Brook improvements. Despite …
New Housing: Access to Health Services3 Mar 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
When new housing was built in Mickleover under the last Government, residents were promised time and again that they would get a new GP surgery, but it never happened. What can this Government do to ensure that when new homes are built, residents have the GP access they need?
Hansard · 3 Mar 2025 · parliament.uk
CC
Chris Coghlan
What steps she plans to take to ensure that new housing developments have adequate access to primary health services.
BM
Ben Maguire
What steps she plans to take to ensure that new housing developments have adequate access to primary health services.
AR
Angela Rayner
Through the revised national planning policy framework, this Government have strengthened the existing system of developer contributions to ensure that new developments provide the necessary infrastructure that communities expect and deserve, including health services. We will robustly hold developers to account for de…
CC
Chris Coghlan
Westvale Park in my constituency is a new housing development of 1,500 homes. Its residents have been waiting seven years for a GP surgery, and the existing GPs cannot expand their capacity. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can ensure that Westvale Park gets the GP surgery it has been promised, as …
AR
Angela Rayner
I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman, which is why this Government have said that infrastructure must come as part of our 1.5 million homes. The Housing Minister will be happy to meet him.
Business of the House27 Feb 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I really enjoyed having a kick-about with Derby County women and the Sport Minister at our fantastic new football facilities at the Derby racecourse hub. Next week, the hub will host 14 Derby schools that are taking part in the biggest ever football session aimed at expanding football opportunities for girls across the country. Does… the Leader of the House agree that women’s football is going from strength to strength, so can we have a debate about supporting grassroots football for women and girls?
Hansard · 27 Feb 2025 · parliament.uk
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Leader of the House.
JN
Jesse Norman
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker—[Interruption.]
JN
Jesse Norman
Touché, Mr Speaker. Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
LP
Lucy Powell
I say to the gorgeous and brilliant Mr Speaker that I will. The business for next week is as follows: Monday 3 March —Remaining stages of the Finance Bill. Tuesday 4 March —Consideration of an allocation of time motion, followed by all stages of the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Bill. Wednesday 5 March —E…
JN
Jesse Norman
Mr Speaker, I am not quite sure what mental obfuscation is filling my head this morning, but I thank you again. It is my happy task to open by saying that today sees the retirement of Dawn, a stalwart of the Tea Room. I am sure that I speak for the whole House in wishing her a very happy retirement. On a very different…
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill [Lords]25 Feb 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I am proud to be a Derby MP and to represent a city with incredible engineering, manufacturing and technological expertise and skills. We make things in Derby. Yes, we have industrial giants such as Rolls-Royce, Alstom and Toyota, but we also have the brilliant small and medium-sized companies in their supply chains and more broadly,… from a wide range of industries including rail, defence, nuclear energy, food production, aviation and digital technology. What attracts so many businesses to Derby is our skilled workforce, but I know that even our city feels this country’s skills shortages. Under the previous Government, a third of UK job vacancies were a result of skills shortages, and the uptake of level 4 and 5 technical training in England fell to historically low levels. I warmly welcome the Bill, which lays the groundwork for the establishment of Skills England to assess and help to address our skills shortages. Larger companies in Derby have been investing in skills and apprenticeships. The Rolls-Royce nuclear skills academy, for example, offers 200 apprenticeships a year, working with the University of Derby and Derby college. The Toyota academy provides skills not just for its own apprentices but for partner companies too. Many of our small and medium-sized employers are investing in their future by investing in skills, such as tech company Barron McCann, which I recently visited, and engineering firm Tidyco, which supports apprentices but also goes into local schools to teach young people the metalwork skills they need to make metal toolboxes. However, I have met many businesses that say that finding skilled workers is one of the greatest challenges they face and that under the last Government, they found apprenticeships too difficult and too inflexible to access. We are fortunate in Derby to have Derby College, which is one of the largest FE colleges in the UK, and University Technical College Derby, which both work closely with employers to ensure they are
Hansard · 25 Feb 2025 · parliament.uk
NG
Nusrat Ghani
The reasoned amendment in the name of Ian Sollom has been selected.
BP
Bridget Phillipson
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. We are a country of incredible talent and enterprise; a country of industry and invention. Our universities lead the world. Our colleges deliver excellence to hundreds of thousands up and down the country. British companies founded on great ideas export their prod…
AF
Ashley Fox
Would the Secretary of State agree that one of the difficulties is that employers cannot spend the money from the apprenticeship levy easily, and that too much of that money is retained by the Treasury? Will she undertake to speak to the Chancellor to see whether she could make it easier for employers to spend that mon…
BP
Bridget Phillipson
I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Chancellor is as committed as I am to ensuring that we have the right skills within the economy, because without them we will not be able to deliver the economic growth that is the No. 1 mission of this Labour Government. But we are committed to reforming the failing apprentices…
JH
John Hayes
I welcome the commitment to skills that the Secretary of State is articulating, but will she recognise that too often the advice given to young people, particularly from schools, is to pursue an academic career—I use the word “academic” in the loosest possible sense—rather than to engage in practical learning? That mea…
SEND Provision: Derbyshire12 Feb 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I have been supporting parents in Derby North who currently face a wait of more than a year for their children’s SEND tribunals, causing agony as they are left in limbo. We know that the historical lack of funding for local authorities, suitable school places and educational psychologists has contributed to the delays. Does my… hon. Friend agree that the delays are yet another example of a SEND system that, as the Education Secretary said, had been “neglected to the point of crisis”?
Hansard · 12 Feb 2025 · parliament.uk
LF
Linsey Farnsworth
I am grateful for the opportunity to bring forward this debate. I know that the Labour Government have inherited a broken system of special educational needs and disabilities provision—broken by 14 years of Tory under-investment, mismanagement and chaos. Even knowing this, I was shocked by the number of Amber Valley pa…
JS
Jim Shannon
I commend the hon. Lady on bringing this debate forward. I spoke to her beforehand. It is heartbreaking to hear what she is saying about her constituency, and I understand that, but the situation is replicated across this whole great United Kingdom. The number of Members who are here to speak is an indication of how ma…
LF
Linsey Farnsworth
I thank the hon. Member for his intervention on a matter that I know is close to his heart. He is absolutely right. The delays are a real concern, and diagnosis at an early stage is important, but that is not what we are seeing in Derbyshire. That is the worry.
JW
John Whitby
Having read the Ofsted report, it is clear that the SEND operation in Derbyshire county council is in complete chaos, with what appears to be a revolving door of senior officers, unfilled posts, consultants and temporary positions. My constituent Claire tells me that the council is completely unresponsive, and that poi…
LF
Linsey Farnsworth
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. I think that every Derbyshire MP will testify to the same thing: that phones are not answered and emails go un-responded to. It is not sustainable for this to be the status quo. So many people in Amber Valley wanted to talk to me about their experience. What was planned as a smal…
Topical Questions11 Feb 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
After 14 years of Conservative government, 77% of people in Derby cannot access an NHS dentist. Can the Minister tell us what caused the rot to set in and how we can fill the cavities in provision?
Hansard · 11 Feb 2025 · parliament.uk
BL
Brian Leishman
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
WS
Wes Streeting
Yesterday, we kicked off National HIV Testing Week. Getting tested for HIV is quick, free and confidential. I pay tribute to the leadership of my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister, who became the first leader in the history of the G7 to take an HIV test. As a former member of the independent HIV Commissi…
BL
Brian Leishman
Fourteen years of austerity have created a new stratum of society: the in-work poor. Recent talk of ruthless cuts to social security is beyond alarming. Does the Secretary of State agree that having a welfare system that covers the cost of essentials, as proposed by the Trussell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation…
WS
Wes Streeting
I am a product of the welfare state, and I remember the benefit system putting food in the fridge and money in the electric meter. I also know from lived experience that people who are trapped in the benefits system want to escape. The best way out of poverty is not through social security, important though that is, bu…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Just a reminder that we are on topicals, folks.
Clean Power by 20304 Feb 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Community energy projects can help us achieve clean energy by 2030. Darley Abbey Community Energy is surging ahead with plans for 100 kW Archimedes screw on the River Derwent—the same river that powered the world’s first factory 200 years ago. The project could generate enough hydroelectricity to power all the businesses at Darley Abbey Mills,… but there are hurdles in place, including planning permission, insurance costs and the need for up-front capital. What can the Government do to support local renewable community projects such as these to succeed?
Hansard · 4 Feb 2025 · parliament.uk
PP
Peter Prinsley
What progress he has made on achieving clean power by 2030.
EM
Ed Miliband
Since this Government came into office, we have taken a series of steps to deliver clean, home-grown power for Britain, including lifting the onshore wind ban, consenting to nearly 3 GW of solar and overseeing the most successful renewables auction in history. In December, we published our clean power action plan, whic…
PP
Peter Prinsley
Energy projects in East Anglia will be crucial for generating the clean, cheap power that this country needs to grow, from wind and solar farms to nuclear power stations, including the much-needed Sizewell C. These projects will bring high-skilled jobs to East Anglia, including in my constituency of Bury St Edmunds and…
EM
Ed Miliband
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and congratulate him on his advocacy. Members across the House have a decision to make here. As the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh) , said earlier, we are exposed to fossil fuels and we see what …
RG
Roger Gale
Given that the British taxpayer is paying billions of pounds in subsidies to fell trees in Canada and ship the wood across the Atlantic to burn in the Drax power station, can the Secretary of State tell the House where the clean energy lies within that? Has he read the KPMG report? If he has, will he come to the House …
Business Confidence30 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Business confidence increases when businesses know that they have the skilled workforce they need in order to grow. We have just had Nuclear Week in Parliament, and it was a pleasure to host Rolls-Royce and its apprentices. Its nuclear skills academy is providing a pipeline of talent, and the same is needed across other industries—from… technical skills to creative skills, and from multinationals to small businesses. What cross-departmental discussions have Ministers had about helping businesses of all sizes to provide skills opportunities for our future workforce?
Hansard · 30 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
JW
John Whittingdale
What steps he is taking to help increase business confidence.
GT
Gareth Thomas
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer said only yesterday, we are driving forward planning reforms, boosting capital investment by over £100 billion over the next five years, and creating the national wealth fund. We are launching the business growth service and will soon publish our modern industrial strategy, which will…
JW
John Whittingdale
But the Minister will be aware that in the last few weeks the CBI, the Institute of Directors and the London chamber of commerce have all said that business confidence is plummeting. Given the tsunami of national insurance contribution increases, business rates increases and employment cost rises, is it not hardly surp…
GT
Gareth Thomas
I think the right hon. Gentleman needs to check his sources for comments from business leaders. Only yesterday the British Chambers of Commerce, the CBI and the Federation of Small Businesses were making very positive comments about our plans for growth, and last week, interestingly, PwC published its annual survey of …
GT
Gareth Thomas
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for her support for Rolls-Royce, which is one of our great British companies leading the way in many export markets across the world. Only yesterday I was discussing with the Minister for Skills our plans to reform the growth and skills levy to make it easier for businesses such as Rolls…
Unity Contract24 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The contract that our Defence Secretary has announced at Rolls-Royce in Derby today is the biggest Ministry of Defence contract in its history. It will make a major contribution to the long-term investment in our city that I and neighbouring MPs have been calling for, creating 1,000 jobs and protecting 4,000 more. It is an… investment not only in industry and nuclear, but in the skills and expertise for which our city is famous. Does the Minister agree that this represents a landmark deal for British defence?
Hansard · 24 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
ME
Maria Eagle
It is almost a shame to interrupt the flow of the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) . With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to update the House on an important development relating to our Royal Navy submarine fleet that will boost national security and economic growth, and deliver savings to the …
CN
Caroline Nokes
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
JC
James Cartlidge
I thank the right hon. Lady not only for early sight of her statement, but for her kind words in recognising my contribution to delivering this deal—Unity by name and by nature. As with the Annington deal and the UK-Germany barrel-making deal, I can safely say that this deal is profoundly to the benefit of our country.…
ME
Maria Eagle
I find myself agreeing with a lot of what the shadow Defence Secretary said—unity, indeed. He asked about 2.5%. I think we all agree that defence spending needs to increase, and he knows well that we have just increased it by 5.9% in real terms this coming year—it is up by £2.9 billion—as a step on the way to getting t…
ME
Maria Eagle
I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. She knows a lot about the subject, and she is correct that it is a landmark deal. It is particularly beneficial for Derby. As she said, there are many skills there already, but the Nuclear Skills Academy will be creating 200 apprenticeships and opportunities a year for youn…
Topical Questions20 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Last week I met a young dad at Derby City Mission who had been sleeping rough until he used its Safe Space night shelter. He was then able to move into one of its bedrooms, and he had just been informed that there was a home for him to move into: another step towards having… somewhere his son can visit him next Christmas. Will the Minister consider whether that stepped model could be used to help more rough sleepers become ready for permanent accommodation?
Hansard · 20 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
FM
Frank McNally
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
AR
Angela Rayner
No one in Britain today should face the cold and indignity of having to sleep in a doorway, so the Minister for Homelessness and Democracy, my hon. Friend the Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali) , has today announced the tripling of the rough sleeping winter pressures fund. This will ensure that as man…
FM
Frank McNally
Safety experts have raised concerns about 95 high-rise blocks and nearly 300 other buildings in Scotland found to contain high pressure laminate panels. Shockingly, eight years on from Grenfell the Scottish Government have spent less than 10% of the £97 million received from the UK Government for dealing with cladding …
AR
Angela Rayner
I agree that remediation has been too slow. This Government are laser-focused on speeding up the remediation of dangerous buildings, and I encourage the Scottish Government, for which this is a devolved matter, to increase their efforts, as we are, to up the pace of remediation in Scotland.
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Business of the House16 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Unregulated and uninsured souped-up electric scooters have been a real source of antisocial behaviour in Derby. Our police and crime commissioner Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts has been working with Derbyshire constabulary to clamp down on illegal e-scooters, seizing and disposing of more than 200 since November. Will the Leader of the House ensure that a Home Office… Minister and a Transport Minister meet me and other Members who have been raising such concerns to ensure that we are pushing forward with regulation and enforcement in relation to e-scooters?
Hansard · 16 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
LP
Lucy Powell
The business for the week commencing 20 January includes: Monday 20 January —General debate on the impact of food and diet on obesity, followed by a general debate on financial education. The subjects for these debates were determined by the Backbench Business Committee. Tuesday 21 January —Remaining stages of the Arme…
JN
Jesse Norman
I am sure that the Leader of the House and every Member will join me in welcoming the news overnight of a ceasefire in Gaza. Let us hope and pray that it is as effective, comprehensive and long-lasting as possible. Back at home, all one can say is that it has been another extraordinary week for the Government, though p…
LP
Lucy Powell
I, too, am sure that the whole House will welcome the developments between Israel and Gaza over the past hours and days, with a long-overdue ceasefire and the release of hostages now looking like a real possibility, although that is still to be confirmed. This will hopefully now lead to much-needed aid getting in,usb t…
AH
Amanda Hack
Community organisations are the backbone of many events in towns and villages across North West Leicestershire. For the past 10 years, the Rotary Club of Ashby de la Zouch Castle has organised our annual charity Santa fun run in Ashby, which I have had the pleasure of taking part in alongside hundreds of local people. …
Endometriosis: Women in the Workplace15 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I met women from the endometriosis support group in Derby, and so many reported that they had had to give up work because of their symptoms as well as the huge delays in their diagnosis and treatment. Does my hon. Friend agree that until this gets real priority and understanding, we will continue to lose… out on the talents and skills of women with endometriosis?
Hansard · 15 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
GF
Gill Furniss
I am grateful for this opportunity to raise the plight of women with endometriosis and the everyday struggles they face in the workplace. Endometriosis was first identified in 1860, but progress in improving the lives of women suffering from it has moved at a glacial pace since then. As the Women and Equalities Committ…
JS
Jim Shannon
I commend the hon. Lady for raising this massive issue. I have in my office a girl who joined as a 16-year-old and has been with me for almost 12 years. She got married on new year’s day. At the age of 28, she had menopause to try to help her endometriosis. As a caring employer, I obviously made sure that she had all t…
GF
Gill Furniss
I thank the hon. Member for that point. The issue has been known about for a long time. The women’s health strategy, published in 2022, painted a picture of what workplaces should be like over the next 10 years, arguing that women should “feel able to speak openly about their health and to be confident that they will b…
AS
Alec Shelbrooke
It is fortuitous that you are in the Chair tonight, Madam Deputy Speaker, given all the work you did on these issues in the last Parliament as Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee. I think that the hon. Lady attended my Westminster Hall last year, and I am grateful to her for securing this Adjournment debate. As…
GF
Gill Furniss
I thank the right hon. Member for that intervention, and I absolutely agree. I pay tribute to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to the right hon. Member for the efforts he has put in over many years. Stigma and a lack of awareness by employers means that reproductive health conditions can have a significant effect on wome…
Artificial Intelligence Opportunities Action Plan13 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
A barrier to the growth of data centres for AI is their need for power. Rolls-Royce in Derby is at the forefront of small modular reactors and micro-reactors. SMRs are small enough to be on or next to data centre sites, and micro-reactors are the size of a shipping container. Co-location would mean less vulnerability… to grid failure and cyber-attacks. Will the Secretary of State work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to explore whether this could be the clean energy solution needed to support sovereign AI capabilities?
Hansard · 13 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
PK
Peter Kyle
With permission, I would like to make a statement about the Government’s AI opportunities action plan. This Government were elected on a programme of change. Today, we are publishing the latest step in delivering our plan for change with the AI opportunities action plan. Our plan for change is clear: we will grow the e…
CN
Caroline Nokes
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
AM
Alan Mak
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. Let me begin by thanking Matt Clifford for his work. Having known Matt for many years, I am grateful for his long-standing contribution to the tech sector, including with the last Conservative Government. It was that last Conservative Government who ide…
PK
Peter Kyle
I am kind of grateful for the hon. Member’s comments, but I feel a bit sorry for him. He praised Matt Clifford and his independent report, because Matt Clifford is an astonishing person—as a House we should all give credit to somebody who has been so successful in the tech sector out there in the real economy, while gi…
CN
Caroline Nokes
I call the Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill8 Jan 2025
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I spent seven years managing a team of barristers on a public inquiry, and I have some insight into the benefits and limitations of public inquiries. Does the right hon. Member really think that wrecking the Bill would lead to a single perpetrator being brought to justice or protect a single child from these despicable… crimes?
Hansard · 8 Jan 2025 · parliament.uk
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
The reasoned amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition has been selected.
BP
Bridget Phillipson
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. In the week in which we return to this House and our children return to school, I am proud to be the Secretary of State for Education in a truly child-centred Government. The actions I take and the decisions I make are always in pursuit of what is best for the chi…
GS
Graham Stuart
The Secretary of State has mentioned previous generations of politicians, and all of us in this House must recognise that we follow in the footsteps of giants. Tony Blair, Lord Adonis and others created the academy system that was built on under the last Conservative Government and brought about a transformation of Eng…
BP
Bridget Phillipson
That is simply a mischaracterisation, and the right hon. Gentleman knows it. I will come on to the wider schools measures in this Bill later in my speech, but I note that he had nothing to say in his intervention about the safety of children and the measures we are discussing today. The wrecking amendment that the Lead…
CV
Christopher Vince
The right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) mentioned uniformity, but the only uniform measures I can see in the Bill are about saving parents money on uniform bills, which I think we can all welcome. Does the Secretary of State agree that the fragmentation of the school system created by the last…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I rise to speak to three points: free breakfast clubs, the clauses dealing with kinship care, and—having spent the past seven years managing a team of barristers on a public inquiry—the Opposition wrecking amendment. First, we all know that children who have breakfast perform better at learning, and—a bit like me—can b…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The evidence is clear on the real benefits that breakfast can give our children and young people. Secondly, the Bill requires local authorities to consider kinship care before they issue proceedings for a child to go into the care system. Avoiding taking children into care when it is safe to do so leads to far better o…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I just wish to say that, nearly a decade after the national independent inquiry into child sexual abuse was set up, it is high time that the victims who so bravely gave evidence see action.
Youth Guarantee16 Dec 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the youth guarantee on young people in Derby North constituency.
Hansard · 16 Dec 2024 · parliament.uk
CV
Christopher Vince
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the youth guarantee on young people in Harlow constituency.
LK
Liz Kendall
Our new youth guarantee will ensure that every young person is earning or learning, tackling the scandal that we inherited of almost 1 million young people not in education, employment or training. Young people in Harlow, Derby North and across the country deserve the opportunity to work, get skills and build a better …
CV
Christopher Vince
In my constituency of Harlow, lots of fantastic organisations provide transferable skills for young people, and I thank the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) for reminding me of the name Jason Shaves, who is an incredible champion for that kind of work. Does the Secretary of State agree that giv…
LK
Liz Kendall
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. That is why we are going to give new powers, responsibilities and funding to local areas to deliver our youth guarantee. They know their communities best. They know the voluntary organisations, schools, training providers and businesses, and the mental health and other support th…
LK
Liz Kendall
That sounds like a fantastic programme by the YMCA in my hon. Friend’s constituency. That is precisely why we need to join up with what local colleges are doing, with the support provided by local councils and with supported employment programmes run by the NHS. If we join that up and base it on local needs, her young …
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Mel was out of work and homeless, but YMCA Derbyshire saw only her potential, not her disadvantage. Now, she is at Toyota and on track for a leadership role. Its working assets programme has a 70% success rate in supporting homeless young people into employment. How will the youth guarantee help the Government join up …
Business of the House12 Dec 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Sussex Circus Fish Bar in Chaddesden for its 50 years of frying, and its owner Ronnie, who was two weeks old when his parents opened it? With one in seven of us choosing to have fish and chips for Christmas dinner, a debate on the… enduring contribution of chippies to our national culture and cuisine and as a focal point in our communities would be timely, allowing us to discuss how we can support and thank those high street food business that serve us at this time of year.
Hansard · 12 Dec 2024 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House please give us the forthcoming business?
LP
Lucy Powell
The business for the week commencing 16 December includes: Monday 16 December —Second Reading of the Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords]. Tuesday 17 December —Committee of the whole House and remaining stages of the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill. Wednesday 18 December —Commit…
JN
Jesse Norman
What a marvellous time of year it is when I see the Christmas tree in New Palace Yard, and the trilling sounds of the parliamentary and Salvation Army choirs to boot. On a slightly more sober note, you will recall, Mr Speaker, that the story of this Government so far has been one of early scandal, a first reset and a d…
LP
Lucy Powell
May I start by saying how appalled I am—I am sure the whole House is—about the details that have emerged on the murder of Sara Sharif? May I say, on behalf of the Government, that nothing is more important than keeping children safe? We are committed to further reform of children’s social care and much stronger safegua…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
The Leader of the House rightly mentioned a live case. I hope nobody will add to that, because it is in the courts at the moment.
Business of the House5 Dec 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
At the Excel parking on Copeland Street in Derby, some residents are getting parking fines if they do not pay for their parking within five minutes. I am pleased that the Government will drive up standards in the private parking sector and are on the side of motorists. Could we have an update from a… Local Government Minister on when the new code of practice for private parking will be published? I suggest that a five-minute rip-off charge is an example of what needs to go.
Hansard · 5 Dec 2024 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?
LP
Lucy Powell
I shall. The business for the week commencing 9 December will include: Monday 9 December —Remaining stages of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill. Tuesday 10 December —Committee of the whole House on the Finance Bill (day one). Wednesday 11 December —Committee of the whole House on the Finance Bill (day two). T…
JN
Jesse Norman
It is great to see that Christmas has come to the Palace of Westminster. I hope, Mr Speaker, that you enjoyed the Christmas fayre yesterday, and that you loaded up on goods from Frank’s Luxury Biscuits from Herefordshire just as heavily as I did—
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I was wondering who ate all the biscuits.
JN
Jesse Norman
And just in time for Small Business Saturday, too. I understand that the Prime Minister will deliver a speech later today setting out his plan for change. I must say, I am delighted—I am sure we all are—to hear that the Government are at last adopting a plan and are trying to change. As we have so often noted at busine…
Improving Public Transport5 Dec 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Bus cuts are absolutely devastating for the woman I spoke to who could not get her weekly shop, the young man I met who had to leave for work hours early to try to get multiple buses, and the husband who could not get a bus to the care home his wife was in. Since… 2008, the east midlands has suffered bus cuts of 60%—more than any other region. Does the Minister agree that regional inequality is at the heart of this debate, and that it is far past time that we saw investment in our buses?
Hansard · 5 Dec 2024 · parliament.uk
SD
Sarah Dyke
I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of improving public transport. I begin by thanking the Backbench Business Committee for scheduling this important and timely debate. The Government have recognised the need for a modal shift away from cars to public transport, but we are still a long way from ach…
HM
Helen Morgan
My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that the single biggest reason that people fail to access work in rural areas is public transport? The figures that she has given are not just numbers; it benefits somebody’s whole way of life if they can access work because they can catch the bus there.
SD
Sarah Dyke
I entirely agree, and I will address that point in my speech. Poor public transport compounds social ills, while the unreliability, inaccessibility and lack of integration in rural Britain prevent people from trusting that it can get them where they need to go when they need to go there and, crucially, that they can ge…
CM
Calum Miller
I thank my hon. Friend for raising such an important topic for us all, and in particular for my constituents in Bicester and Woodstock. After the Conservative-led administration cut all direct bus funding in our area in 2016, I am proud that Liberal Democrats have reinstated community bus services. Does she agree that …
SD
Sarah Dyke
I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. That is vital for rural areas. I have excellent community transport providers in Glastonbury and Somerton: there is Wincanton community transport, and across Somerset we have the Slinky bus that provides on-demand services. They are crucial for people who need to get to surg…
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill29 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
More than two thirds of care proceedings involving the most vulnerable children in our society cannot be completed within six months. Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is a real concern that the safeguard is not deliverable, or risks being the rubber stamp that I know my hon. Friend the Member for Spen… Valley (Kim Leadbeater) does not want it to be?
Hansard · 29 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
Before I begin proceedings, I would like to say a few words to help manage expectations about business today. More than 160 Members have indicated that they wish to speak in the first debate. It is not customary to impose a speech limit on private Members’ Bills, but I hope that after the Member in charge of the Bill a…
KL
Kim Leadbeater
I beg to move, that the Bill be now read a Second time. Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thank you to everyone who is attending this hugely significant debate. It is a privilege to open the debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a piece of legislation that would give dying people, under stringent criteria, c…
KM
Kevin McKenna
I have been a nurse for more than a quarter of a century, and in that time I have worked mostly in intensive care as a specialist. I have worked with compassionate and skilled, well-trained clinicians who have been taught to spot coercion—it is fundamental to our practice. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is wrong to …
KL
Kim Leadbeater
My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I thank him for it, and for his years of service as a nurse. I have spoken to many medical professionals about this issue, and they say that this is part of their job. They are very skilled and they work closely with patients, particularly dying patients, to assess their nee…
SH
Simon Hoare
I thank the hon. Lady for giving the House the time to debate the Bill this morning. She references coercion, and I understand her point about the two medics, but medics will not be able to see or hear everything at all times. People will not be put beyond challenge, because subsequent to the death, if a relative claim…
Engagements27 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Derby city centre is turning the page on 14 years of Conservative decline, with a new performance venue, a new business school and a restored market hall, but across the country we see too many empty shops and quiet high streets. [Interruption.] This Budget is putting more money into the pockets of working people to… spend supporting local businesses. Will the Prime Minister commit, contrary to Conservative scaremongering, to support and protect the small businesses that are the beating heart of our high streets?
Hansard · 27 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
DC
Daisy Cooper
If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 27 November.
KS
Keir Starmer
The sympathies of everyone in this House will be with those affected by the devastating flooding that we have seen recently. Our thanks go to all those working tirelessly to support the affected communities. We have committed £2.4 billion over the next two years to build, maintain and repair vital defences to protect m…
DC
Daisy Cooper
I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks. West Hertfordshire teaching hospitals NHS trust has eliminated 65-week waits and has now met all three national cancer standards. Those remarkable achievements by the staff are happening despite their working in terrible buildings that are life-expired and crumbling…
KS
Keir Starmer
I thank the hon. Lady for raising that issue, which is of importance to her constituents and beyond. The new hospital programme we inherited was a failure of the previous Government. We are committed to delivering, and we are reviewing to ensure that we can deliver. The Health Secretary will set out further details, bu…
CC
Chris Curtis
Residents in Redhouse Park in my constituency are suffering from soaring management fees and poor service from their fleeceholder management company. Recent BBC reporting has once again demonstrated the consequences of the outdated and feudal leasehold system. All of them are frustrated by the broken promises of the pr…
Storm Bert25 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I thank the Secretary of State for coming to Derby last year to see our flood defences and to meet firefighters who had saved lives and property when Derbyshire was hit by floods. May I echo the calls for him to explore with the Home Office the possibility of putting the water rescue that they… perform on a statutory footing? Will he give us an update on the next phase of Derby’s flood defence work?
Hansard · 25 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
SR
Steve Reed
With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to update the House on Storm Bert. The storm brought heavy rain, high winds and snow across the UK over the weekend. The flooding Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and H…
JC
Judith Cummins
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
VA
Victoria Atkins
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. Storm Bert has had, and continues to have, terrible impacts across the United Kingdom. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have lost their lives in recent days as well as the people whose homes and businesses have been devastated and all t…
SR
Steve Reed
I thank the right hon. Lady for her comments, and I echo her good wishes to people who have been affected by the situation. She refers to funding. I politely remind her that she was a Treasury Minister in the previous Government, who underfunded our flood defences and left more than 3,000 of them—the highest level on r…
JC
Judith Cummins
I call the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee.
Before Clause 1 - Purpose: improvement of passenger railway services19 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise to speak in favour of Lords amendment 3 and the public sector equality duty. I welcome the Government’s plans for an accessible road map, and the fact that they will work with disabled communities to ensure that the Bill properly meets the needs of people with disabilities who… travel on our trains. In the other place the Minister for Rail noted that although some changes can happen quickly, such as the map, others take longer due to the longevity of rolling stock. I encourage the Government to work with rolling stock manufacturers to formulate a plan as to what changes need to be made to our trains, so that they can be modernised to ensure that future generations of stock serve the disabled community. Given the direction on accessibility, sustainability and affordability, I know that not only the east midlands rail cluster that my constituency is in but the whole industry will be inspired to be the first, so that other countries will want to follow. I hope that Lords amendment 3 will encourage all those who are championing improvements for our disabled communities.
Hansard · 19 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
LH
Louise Haigh
I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 1.
NG
Nusrat Ghani
With this it will be convenient to discuss: Lords amendment 2, and Government motion to disagree. Lords amendment 3.
LH
Louise Haigh
I am delighted that the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill has returned to this House. I thank Members of both Houses for their careful scrutiny, and I commend the collaborative, cross-party approach taken during the passage of the Bill to date. I place on record especially my thanks to the Rail Ministe…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
GB
Gareth Bacon
I thank the other place for providing these amendments. Although the measures in this Bill are not a surprise—and we have stated our opposition to its fundamentals from the outset—we have made the case that, in effectively nationalising the operation of our passenger railways, we risk going backwards. Its core provisio…
Business of the House14 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I met members of an endometriosis support group that was set up recently by Derby County Community Trust. I heard from women who had not been taken seriously and who had had their pain dismissed, taken significant time out of education and work, and faced appallingly long waits for surgery. I also met some of… their mums, who suffered exactly the same thing 25 years ago. Can we have a statement from the Government on how we will prevent the next generation—their daughters—from suffering the same thing?
Hansard · 14 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
JN
Jesse Norman
Will the Leader of the House present the forthcoming business?
LP
Lucy Powell
The business for the week commencing 18 November includes: Monday 18 November —Second Reading of the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill. Tuesday 19 November —Consideration of Lords amendments to the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, followed by a general debate on the infected blood inquiry. Wednesday 20 …
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the shadow Leader of the House.
JN
Jesse Norman
Thank you very much indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am sure that the whole House will want to join me in wishing a very happy birthday today to His Majesty the King. The last few days in global politics have been extraordinary, featuring one of the most incredible comebacks of modern times. It was wildly hard to predic…
LP
Lucy Powell
I also wish His Majesty the King a very happy birthday. This is Islamophobia awareness month—a chance for us all to come together to tackle all forms of religious and racial hatred. It is also transgender awareness week, which started yesterday, celebrating our trans heroes. It is a chance to remind ourselves that the …
Clean Energy by 203012 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What progress he has made on achieving clean energy by 2030.
Hansard · 12 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
BE
Bill Esterson
What progress he has made on achieving clean energy by 2030.
BS
Baggy Shanker
What progress he has made on achieving clean power by 2030.
JM
Joe Morris
What progress he has made on achieving clean power by 2030.
MS
Michael Shanks
In just four short months, we have made rapid progress on achieving our mission for clean power by 2030. We have set up Great British Energy and announced its headquarters in Aberdeen, secured a record-breaking 131 renewables projects, and consented to record amounts of solar. We are getting on with delivering lower bi…
MS
Michael Shanks
I agree with my hon. Friend that nuclear will play a central role in our clean power mission, and will continue to be a critical part of our energy mix as we progress towards 2030 and far beyond. Great British Nuclear is continuing to drive forward the competition on small modular reactors, with bids currently being ev…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Rolls-Royce in Derby is an international leader in research on and the development of small modular reactors, and it is fantastic that the Government have acknowledged the role that SMRs will play in clean power generation, energy security and green jobs. In the Budget, we heard that the final decision on Great British…
Rail Performance11 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I welcome the Secretary of State’s success in ending national industrial disputes as a first step to delivering better services for rail passengers. Does she agree that the establishment of Great British Railways in Derby represents a further positive step in getting Britain moving again? Can she update the House on the governance framework for… shadow Great British Railways, and how it will work with stakeholders on functions such as producing a business plan?
Hansard · 11 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
LH
Louise Haigh
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement about rail performance. I welcome the shadow Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Orpington (Gareth Bacon) , to his place. I am sure the Opposition will be interested in what we have to update the House about this afternoon. After 14 years of neglec…
GB
Gareth Bacon
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and for sharing an advance copy. I agree that rail performance is a key concern to passengers throughout the country, and it is a fair criticism to say that several operators have consistently underperformed. That is why, when we were in government, we took action to imp…
LH
Louise Haigh
I am grateful to the shadow Secretary of State for acknowledging that we provided the statement in advance, and I suggest that next time he reads it before he responds. He will have heard me say that public ownership is not a silver bullet, hence why we are setting out a substantial package of reforms. As I also mentio…
NG
Nusrat Ghani
I call the Chair of the Transport Committee.
RC
Ruth Cadbury
The Transport Secretary’s statement is hugely welcome. Bringing privately owned train operating companies into public ownership as well as setting up GBR will inevitably add to her Department’s workload, so what preparations is she making to manage that additional workload?
Income Tax (Charge)6 Nov 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
My constituents go to work to make trains, planes and automobiles at Alstom, Rolls-Royce and Toyota, and they work in their supply chains. This Budget delivers ambitious plans for rail infrastructure, nearly £100 million in R&D funding for aerospace, and £2 billion to support the automotive sector. To get to work, many of my constituents… commute; 1.2 billion vehicle miles were travelled on Derby’s roads last year. The fuel duty freeze and the extra half a billion pounds to fix potholes are hugely welcome. My constituents teach and learn at our great university and schools. They treat others and are treated at the Royal Derby hospital. They work in our shops and restaurants, and on the building sites where the regeneration of our city is taking shape. We in Derby are laying the foundations for growth—literally. Building is under way on a new university business school, a new mental health unit at Kingsway and a new performance venue at Becketwell. At Friar Gate goods yard, which has stood derelict for over 50 years, new homes and businesses are being built. There is also investment in our theatres—£20 million of funding that this Budget underwrites. We needed and got a Budget that supported our ambitions. Last week, I went from the Budget statement to a meeting of small businesses in my constituency, which was organised by the Federation of Small Businesses. We discussed how this Budget will grow the cake, from investment in skills and reform of business rates to the approval of the east midlands investment zone and start-up loans. This is a Budget that is, at last, honest about the public finances being in a mess, and we have made tough decisions so that our businesses can have the stability and certainty they need. To rebuild Britain, however, we also need to reset the broken contract with working people. For 14 years, in Budget after Budget, from austerity to Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, working people were barely offered crumbs from the table, while productivity and
Hansard · 6 Nov 2024 · parliament.uk
JR
Jonathan Reynolds
It is a pleasure to open this final day of the debate on the Chancellor’s growth Budget. Can I welcome the new shadow team? It is lovely to see them in place. I think many of us on this side would admit that we were shadow Ministers for longer than we ideally would have been, and I know that it is a tough and thankless…
KM
Kit Malthouse
The Secretary of State makes much of growth. Of course we all want growth, but the OBR report actually says that growth in real GDP will start to slow over the next three years and that in years four and five of the Parliament it will go negative. It is telling us that the Government’s Budget is actually going to resul…
JR
Jonathan Reynolds
That is not what it says. First, on the figures, we cannot make a like-for-like comparison because we know that the information provided by the previous Government in their financial information was erroneous. They did not square their own spending pledges with what was in those documents. The analysis by the OBR shows…
GS
Graham Stuart
The right hon. Gentleman will, I hope, be aware that the long-term economic growth of this country relies not primarily on public investment or indeed public infrastructure, but on a healthy private sector—the wealth creators from whom we can take the funding to deliver into those goods that he talks about and that are…
JR
Jonathan Reynolds
I am sorry but, again, the right hon. Gentleman is wrong. I agree with part of his assessment, such as that a strong and thriving private sector is crucial to growth, but I find his analysis a little simplistic. Private firms will say that they also need skilled workers, and that they need a decent transport system so …
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities24 Oct 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
There are more than 20 cases in my constituency of children with special educational needs and disabilities who are missing out on care and school placements, and I am meeting the council about them tomorrow. I thank the Minister for speaking with me this week about the concerns of families. Can we make it a… priority to help local authorities to offer these children the best possible placements?
Hansard · 24 Oct 2024 · parliament.uk
MW
Munira Wilson
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement on support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
CM
Catherine McKinnell
Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve and thrive, but at the moment far from every child is being given that chance. Today’s report from the National Audit Office is, sadly, bang on the money: the system has totally lost the confidence of families. Families and children with special educational needs are bein…
MW
Munira Wilson
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question. Today’s National Audit Office report confirms what parents, carers, children and young people across the country have been telling us for years: that our system to support those with special educational needs and disabilities is in crisis and on the brink. The l…
CM
Catherine McKinnell
I thank the hon. Lady for raising the issue and bringing it to the House. She is absolutely right to draw attention to the National Audit Office report and its damning indictment of a system that has lost the confidence of families and is failing children with special educational needs and disabilities. She rightly cal…
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
I call the Chair of the Select Committee on Education.
Employment Rights Bill21 Oct 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I congratulate the Deputy Prime Minister on introducing this groundbreaking Bill within the Government’s first 100 days. It is a careful product of many years of work and thought. I proudly declare the interests set out in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, including my position as chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, which… has considered and campaigned on these issues for years. The many measures in the Bill create the conditions for jobs around which people can build lives and families, and will prevent legitimate businesses from being undercut by those who avoid their responsibilities. I welcome the provisions to tackle exploitative hiring and employment practices, which will benefit workers and businesses. I will confine my remarks to enforcement and the fair work agency, because a right is not worth the paper it is written on unless it can be enforced. I was a barrister for 17 years, and for part of my career I had the honour of representing working people. I saw at first hand the race to the bottom on employment that took place under the last Government. Our country is unusual in having no labour rights commissioner, or central or local regulator. Many of the rights that successive Labour Governments have established, and for which the wider Labour movement campaigned, are instead delegated to individuals required to act themselves through the employment tribunal system. As the Low Pay Commission has found, low-paid and exploited workers can be reluctant to speak out about abuses of their rights. Regulation of the labour market in the UK is fragmented and under-resourced, with an estimated one inspector per 10,000 workers. The creation of a fair work agency will help to enable enforcement of the national minimum wage, statutory sick pay, and a wider range of rights such as holiday pay, so that everyone plays by the same rules. It will help to protect businesses that are undercut by acting as a real deterrent. The current system clearly does not d
Hansard · 21 Oct 2024 · parliament.uk
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
The reasoned amendment in the name of Kevin Hollinrake has been selected.
AR
Angela Rayner
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I declare that I am a lifelong proud trade union member—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.] When the Government took office and I took this job, we promised the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, nothing less than a new deal for working people. We said t…
JW
James Wild
In a discourtesy to the House, the very extensive impact assessment to which the Deputy Prime Minister has referred was published only a couple of hours before the debate, but one thing that it says is that the estimated cost of the measures could be £4.5 billion a year. How does loading costs on to employers help to b…
AR
Angela Rayner
The impact assessment also makes it clear that the Bill will have a positive impact on growth. More than 10 million workers, in every corner of this country, will benefit from Labour’s plan, and the money in their pockets will go back into the economy and support businesses, in particular those on high streets. Across …
GS
Graham Stuart
The Government’s own impact assessment states that “the impact on growth could”— only could— “be positive”, and that any such impact “would be small in magnitude.” The negative impacts, not least on small businesses, will be very serious in magnitude, as my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild) lai…
Access to Primary Care15 Oct 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of patient access to primary care services.
Hansard · 15 Oct 2024 · parliament.uk
CJ
Clive Jones
What steps his Department is taking to improve access to GP appointments.
KM
Katrina Murray
What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of patient access to primary care services.
WJ
Warinder Juss
What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of patient access to primary care services.
SK
Stephen Kinnock
As identified in Lord Darzi’s review, primary care is broken. Satisfaction with GP services has fallen from a peak of 80% in 2009 to just 35% last year—a truly damning indictment of 14 years of Tory failure. We will rebuild general practice. We have invested £82 million to recruit 1,000 new GPs, we have launched our re…
CJ
Clive Jones
The Arborfield Green community in my Wokingham constituency has around 10,000 residents in new homes, with many more to come, but there is no local primary care provision. To see a GP, residents must travel to neighbouring villages, which are often inaccessible because of a lack of public transport. What steps will the…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
Residents in Mickleover have been queuing from 7 am to get an appointment with their GP, and Healthwatch says that seven in 10 people in Derby find it very difficult to book appointments. That is the legacy of the previous Government. With new homes being built in and around Mickleover, we need even more additional cap…
Midland Main Line: Electrification10 Oct 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What recent progress has been made on the electrification of the midland main line.
Hansard · 10 Oct 2024 · parliament.uk
LG
Lilian Greenwood
Electrification is progressing on the midland main line, with the new overhead line equipment from Kettering to Wigston, just south of Leicester, now installed and energised. That, together with enhancements to overhead line equipment south of Bedford, will enable new bi-mode trains to run electric from St Pancras to W…
LG
Lilian Greenwood
I commend my hon. Friend’s support for this scheme, and for being such a champion of the railways and her constituents. I assure her that delivering greener transport is one of the Secretary of State’s priorities for our Department. The extension of the electrification from Wigston to Nottingham, and to Sheffield via D…
HB
Harriett Baldwin
It is not electrified, Mr Speaker, but the west midlands railway line from Birmingham to Hereford has seen a dramatic deterioration in its performance since the Secretary of State agreed the no-conditions, inflation-busting pay rise with the strikers. Will the Minister agree to meet the management of West Midlands Rail…
LG
Lilian Greenwood
There have already been improvements in performance and a reduction in cancellations on the railway. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is working extremely hard to hold operators to account and to ensure that all our constituents enjoy a quality service from the railway. It is essential that we put passengers…
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The full electrification of the midland main line would significantly reduce railway operating costs and cut 42,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Current work on the line will finish soon. Moving ahead with the rest of the project would retain the multidisciplinary skills and supply chain needed for rail electrifi…
Business of the House10 Oct 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
The east midlands has the lowest level of transport spend per person, at just 56% of the national average. The state of the transport network we have inherited comes nowhere near the level of ambition that I know my colleagues in the east midlands and our new mayor have for economic growth. If the region… received the average level of funding across the UK, we would have an extra £1.29 billion every year. May we have a debate about inequalities in regional transport spending?
Hansard · 10 Oct 2024 · parliament.uk
CP
Chris Philp
Will the Leader of the House update the House on the forthcoming business?
LH
Lindsay Hoyle
May I wish the Leader of the House a happy birthday? Forty today!
LP
Lucy Powell
Twenty-one today, Mr Speaker. The business for the week commencing 14 October includes: Monday 14 October —Second Reading of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill. Tuesday 15 October —Second Reading of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill. Wednesday 16 October —Opposition day (3rd allotted day). Debate on a…
CP
Chris Philp
Mr Speaker, may I start by welcoming your new Chaplain, Rev. Mark Birch, to his role? I am sure we all look forward to working with him. Let me also extend warm birthday wishes to the Leader of the House. It is hard to believe, but today is a very significant birthday for her. The whole House extends warm wishes to her…
LP
Lucy Powell
I, too, welcome the new Chaplain, Mark Birch. I also pay tribute to Lily Ebert, who dedicated her life to ensuring that the horror of the Holocaust can never happen again. I am sure that all Members will want to send their best wishes to the residents of Florida as the damage of Hurricane Milton unfolds. I thank you, M…
Clause 1 - Prohibition on franchise extensions and new franchises3 Sep 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
I will address my remarks to my amendment 7. It is a probing amendment, whose main purpose is to raise and discuss procurement reform. I start with good news: 100 new jobs at Alstom Derby, refurbishing CrossCountry’s Voyager fleet, in an upgrade worth £60 million. Train manufacturing in Derby was at death’s door some months… ago, and now it has a heartbeat, with 10 trains for the Elizabeth line in the pipeline. I thank the Transport Secretary and many other hon. Members for their extraordinary support in the dark days some months ago, when hundreds of jobs at Alstom—thousands when we consider the supply chain and agency workers—were being lost. The city came together to demand action. No one wants to see their city or their workplace go through that, so we need to see an end to boom and bust, replaced with consistency and certainty. We need crisis and sticking plasters to be replaced with long-term funding and stable projects. We saw a failure to act in that way when privatisation happened. When British Rail was split up, there was real concern that the upheaval would crush the world-renowned expertise in the supply chain in Derbyshire. According to Hansard on 20 December 1994 , in that year alone, 5,000 jobs were lost nationally. That was one of the first unnecessary tragedies of privatisation. In spite of that setback, more than 10,000 workers are employed today in Europe’s largest and most diverse rail cluster, centred around Derby. It covers every aspect of the railway supply chain. Since the Bill’s Second Reading, I have been pleased to visit and meet with rail forum members, including Hübner, Serco, DB ESG, Resonate and Millennium Site Services, which are all enthusiastic about working with this Government to deliver improvements to rail. The Transport Secretary said on Second Reading: “As private operators are brought in, their contracts and supply chains will be considered, to ensure that they are delivering the best possible service for passengers.”—[Officia
Hansard · 3 Sep 2024 · parliament.uk
HW
Helen Whately
I beg to move amendment 18, page 1, line 12, at end insert— “25B Report on impact of prohibition on franchise extensions and new franchises The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament— (a) within six months of the coming into force of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, a report on the ant…
CN
Caroline Nokes
With this it will be convenient to consider: Clause stand part. Amendment 19, in clause 2, page 2, line 14, at end insert— “(1AA) Before making a direct award of a public service contract to a public sector company under subsection (1A), the relevant franchising authority must provide information to the Office of Rail …
HW
Helen Whately
It is good to see hon. Members so soon after the summer recess. I know that the Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon. Member for Sheffield Heeley (Louise Haigh) , has been busy over the summer, but I hope that she managed—like the Deputy Prime Minister—to find some time to let her hair down. When we last met…
NW
Nadia Whittome
I find the hon. Member’s comments on public ownership a bit rich, given that privatisation of our railways has spelled 30 years of failure—30 years of delays and price increases for passengers, and eye-watering profits for private companies. Most people in the UK opposed privatisation at the time, and most people still…
HW
Helen Whately
Unfortunately, the hon. Member is simply wrong in some of the statements she makes. I am not ideological about this—I know that there is a place for the public sector and a place for the private sector. In our reforms, we proposed a closer working together of track and train through Great British Railways, much of whic…
Violence against Women and Girls29 Jul 2024
CA
Catherine Atkinson
What steps her Department plans to take to tackle violence against women and girls.
Hansard · 29 Jul 2024 · parliament.uk
JF
Josh Fenton-Glynn
What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the police response to violence against women and girls.
CJ
Christine Jardine
What steps her Department plans to take to tackle violence against women and girls.
AH
Alison Hume
What steps her Department plans to take to tackle violence against women and girls.
EB
Elsie Blundell
What steps her Department plans to take to tackle violence against women and girls.
JA
Jessica Asato
What steps her Department plans to take to tackle violence against women and girls.
CA
Catherine Atkinson
There were nearly 400 offences of violence against women and girls in Derby in 2022-23—shamefully, a fifth of all crimes in the city. I welcome the £83,000 for closed circuit television that will be put into operation by our new Derbyshire police and crime commissioner, but what further support can this Government prov…
