Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
Business of the House
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…
Commons
Debate
9 December 2025
Railways Bill
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 d…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 December 2025
Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry
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 ha…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 December 2025
Criminal Court Reform
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…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
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 secu…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa
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 pow…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 November 2025
Business of the House
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 t…
Commons
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
2 contributions
Littering
4. What steps she has taken to help tackle littering.
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 …
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces
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 homel…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
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 lear…
Commons
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Probation Service
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…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
2 contributions
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
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 fami…
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…
Commons
Debate
29 October 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
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 t…
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?
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Business of the House
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 an…
Commons
Debate
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
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…
On that point, will the right hon. Lady give way?
Commons
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry
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 f…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
Topical Questions
T4. 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…
Commons
Debate
15 October 2025
9 contributions
Work for Serving Prisoners
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 …
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 i…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
15 October 2025
Pride in Place
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 residen…
Commons
Debate
16 September 2025
Sentencing Bill
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 a…
Commons
Debate
11 September 2025
5 contributions
Regional Transport Inequality
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 grat…
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…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
8 September 2025
Defence Industrial Strategy
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 bi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 September 2025
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
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 vi…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 September 2025
Eating Disorders: Prevention of Deaths
I strongly endorse what my hon. Friend says. The majority of the people First Steps ED support are children and young people, but sadly demand is at a record high, outpacing the support available. I welcome the additional funding that the Government are giving to these services, but does my hon. Fri…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
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 h…