Catherine Atkinson

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Parliament's party history for this member: Labour (4 Jul 2024 – present).

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1. 3 Nov 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Advanced Manufacturing

   <Question HRSContentId="{BB95F4C4-24C8-45A0-997A-9DB471D86F5B}">T3. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{ACE371C4-FB9C-47A1-99B7-E5B46B74879F}" /> Before the Budget, I wrote to the Chancellor to flag that many of the challenges facing the Ministry of Justice were rooted in long-term financial pressures. Austerity saw justice spending cut by a third, and although the Government have increased funding, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says that an additional £3.6 billion would be needed if we were to return to pre-austerity spending per person. Will the Treasury work with the Justice Secretary to ensure that our justice system is properly funded and that future crises are prevented?</Question>

   Hansard source
2. 2 Nov 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Budget Resolutions

   The Budget was great news for Derby—particularly the £2.5 billion investment with Rolls-Royce to develop the next generation of aircraft engine and keep us at the forefront of this country’s reindustrialisation—but I rise to speak about justice. Whether it is growth in every postcode, high streets being brought back to life or getting everyone in and off the streets for Christmas, none can be achieved without investment in and reform of our justice system. The Prime Minister’s first instruction on entering Downing Street was to end rough sleeping, an objective that is inspiring, ambitious and right. The near doubling of the £442 million to £874 million for those measures in the Budget showed intent, but here is where our justice system comes in: every month, 1,000 people go straight from prison to homelessness, with many rough sleeping. That figure has gone up and outpaced the increase in the number leaving prison. Being homeless doubles the risk of reoffending and makes the goal of ending rough sleeping unobtainable. That is why we need a duty for rehabilitation services to ensure that, on leaving prison, people do not go on to the streets and into worklessness.

   Hansard source
3. 2 Nov 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Budget Resolutions

   I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. I acknowledge that there are many categories of people who we want to ensure have real priority. The Government already have the ambition to halve the number of prisoners who are released into homelessness, but, if we are to end rough sleeping and break cycles of offending, that ambition is not ambitious enough. Just as it is morally offensive to us when we see someone sleeping rough in the doorway of a really high-end hotel, it should also offend us when we see the global elite and blue chip companies coming to Britain for our world-class justice while our own citizens are often left outside that justice system, getting rough justice. <span id="632" class="column-number" data-column-number="632"></span>We should be rightly proud—and the Treasury mindful—of the huge contribution that international cases make to our country’s economy. In 2024 alone, the UK legal sector contributed £42.6 billion to the economy, and the UK is the largest legal services market in Europe and second only to the US globally, but we should be using some of that revenue to improve access to early legal advice and to legal aid, and to address the dire shortage in duty solicitors for our own people. Lastly, there was positive news for our high streets, with the Budget taking many of our cafés, pubs and beauty salons completely out of business rates. The Home Secretary is putting police back on the frontline, and we have reversed the effective decriminalisation of shoplifting under the previous Government, but the justice system needs to work much faster for all of us, including on our high streets and in our town and city centres, where people need to feel safe if they are to want to be there and spend money. But as well as fast, justice needs to be fair. It is not right for people on the minimum wage to face custodial sentences—potentially going up to two years’ custody—and not qualify for legal aid, leaving them unrepresented in court.

   Hansard source
4. 2 Nov 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Budget Resolutions

   I am conscious of the number of people who want to speak in this debate, so I will continue. It is not said often enough that this country’s dogged belief in fair rules for everyone is also a secret ingredient to business success—if your assets are protected, your contracts are enforced and your disputes are decided, that is one less risk—but there must be access to justice for our smaller businesses, as well as the larger multinationals. There is more to do in our justice system. More is needed. I acknowledge that in the last spending review, the Budget for justice was increased by an average of 2.4%, but in the 2010s, justice spending was cut by 33% in real terms. Spending today is only on a par with what it was 24 years ago, in 2002, and it is lower per person than it was then. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that the Ministry of Justice would need an additional £3.6 billion just to equal its spending per person before austerity. Many of the challenges facing the justice system today have their roots in that period of austerity. I will be knocking on the Treasury Ministers’ door as hard as my children were knocking on our neighbours’ doors last week at Halloween. This is not trick or treat; it is common sense. It is essential that we act now to avoid a jump-scare later on.

   Hansard source
5. 29 Oct 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Business of the House

   Derby built the engines that powered the Spitfire. In the Budget, the Chancellor announced a £2.5 billion joint investment by Government and Rolls-Royce to develop the next generation of aircraft engine, which will support thousands of jobs and should create tens of thousands more in the next decade. Does the Leader of the House agree that this is a brilliant example of our Government rebuilding British industry and working alongside business to deliver skilled jobs and opportunities for young people and to strengthen our economy?

   Hansard source
6. 27 Oct 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Electronic Monitoring of Offenders

   Victims should not have to make their lives smaller, looking over their shoulder because offenders are free to roam; it is the offender whose freedoms should be limited. Will the Minister be more ambitious in using restriction zones, which keep an offender within a defined area, rather than simply banning them from particular areas, as with exclusion zones? If victims are to feel safe, tags must be fitted as they walk out of the prison gate, not weeks later. Will that be in place in January, as intended?

   Hansard source
7. 26 Oct 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Rough Sleeping and Good Growth Funds

   I welcome today’s additional £432 million to tackle rough sleeping. With reoffending accounting for 80% of offending in England and Wales, securing stable accommodation on release from prison is absolutely central to reducing reoffending and making our communities safer, yet last year around 1,000 people a month left prison homeless. Will the Minister work with the MOJ to use this investment to go beyond the target of halving homelessness among prison leavers? As we seek to accelerate progress on preventing homelessness, I am concerned that the Ministry intends to replace quarterly accommodation figures with annual reporting, so will the Minister press for quarterly publication to continue to be tracked?

   Hansard source
8. 21 Oct 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   E-scooters and E-bikes: Regulation

   Derbyshire constabulary has seized and crushed more than 1,000 illegal electric scooters, some capable of travelling at 50 mph <span id="383WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="383WH"></span>and being ridden by children. At such a speed, the damage that can be done is catastrophic. Older constituents have told me that they are afraid to go into Derby city centre for fear of being hit, and that is not to mention the house fires that have been caused by e-scooter batteries. Does the hon. Lady agree that the sooner we legislate to tackle illegal scooters and protect the public, the better?

   Hansard source
9. 20 Oct 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

   Manufacturing Skills

   I am an MP for Derby—or, as our Prime Minister called it, the “great city of Derby”—which is famous for its advanced manufacturing and engineering skills. Our largest employers, such as Alstom, Rolls-Royce and Toyota, are able to invest in skills through apprenticeships. Just last week, Great British Railways, which will have its headquarters in Derby city centre, announced up to 600 new apprenticeships. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must focus more on enabling and supporting smaller manufacturers to invest and train up new apprenticeships to address the skills shortages across the country?

   Hansard source
10. 13 Oct 2026·Parliament·Catherine Atkinson

    Prisoner Early Release Scheme

    Tagging could be a way to provide real reassurance to communities and victims, but only if tags are fitted promptly and offenders are monitored. In April of last year, the Justice Committee raised concerns in writing about the time being taken to fit tags, and the Institute for Government found that between January and April of this year, more than 5,000 people who should have been monitored were not tagged—that equates to 15% of all people with an electronic tagging order. It also found that almost 1,600 people wearing a tag were wearing one that did not send a signal, due to technical faults or the device not being charged. Can the Minister tell us whether anything has changed since April? Specifically, what percentage of GPS tags are now being fitted on time? What is the longest time an offender can wait before monitoring begins, and when will offenders be tagged on day one, as victims and the public should be able to expect?

    Hansard source

2024 General Election: Derby North

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