Business of the House

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the performance—or, should I say, the lack of performance —of Reform councils. We have heard time and again in business questions that when Reform is in local government, it over-promises and under-delivers. There is a real political choice in the coming local elections. He makes a strong case for learning from the example of what it is like to live under a Reform council, and for the benefits of voting Labour.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The 14 to 18-year-olds who study at university technical colleges are three or four times more likely than the national average to secure an apprenticeship. The UTC in Derby is oversubscribed—it got 450 applications for just 100 places —and demand outstrips the number of places in other UTCs too. Many of our industries are concerned about skills shortages, so might we have a debate on how to expand UTC provision, or enable UTCs to team up with other schools, so that more young people can benefit from the skills that UTCs teach and from those strong routes into apprenticeships?