Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ian Murray]

My hon. Friend is correct: Southport is already a town of culture. He has been championing southport2026.com, which everyone should go and look at. In addition to the £30 million music growth package, the Government are encouraging the live music venue to go further to deliver widespread adoption of the voluntary £1 levy on tickets for stadium and arena shows in order to help to safeguard the future of grassroots music. I re-emphasise that we are encouraging the industry to go much further; we want as much take-up as possible and to see the levy in place for as many concerts as possible. We want the music industry to continue to drive progress with this, as all that money will go into grassroots live music.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (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 everywhere, not just in our big cities. While Reform trashes one of our most important national institutions, we have kick-started the BBC charter review to ensure that we protect a BBC that belongs to everybody. Our message to the British people is clear: “We will always fight for you.”

[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 me in congratulating the Colts, the local councillors and the whole community? Will she set out what steps are being taken to improve grassroots football facilities in Derby and across the country?

[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 to roll out those facilities in her constituency and across the country.

Youth Services

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

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?

[Baggy Shanker]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The austerity cuts have affected so many groups in Derby that either no longer exist or have had to scale back their services, and it is truly shocking.

The Derby County Community Trust does fantastic work. Safe and Sound also does excellent work in our city. The Derby promise, which we recently launched, works so hard to offer aspirational experiences to young people in our communities but could do so much more if properly funded. We know that investing in the future starts with investing in our young people—charities such as the ones my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) and I have mentioned in Derby do exactly that—but the Tories ignored this. They decimated funding for youth services, as we have heard from speaker after speaker this afternoon. Derby is no different, with youth service spending falling by a staggering 81% since 2010. Does my hon. Friend the Minister agree that longer-term funding for youth services is crucial, so that we can enable every young person in Derby and across the UK to thrive?

Football Governance Bill [Lords]

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

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 Derby County songs louder than anyone I know, including in the office.

This Bill is for the fans on cold terraces and in the stands, the volunteers and mascots and those in the wider football community, the coaches running the grassroots teams that our children play in and the parents who run the line in all weathers. I hope we can all support the Bill and make it stronger still. I wish Derby County every success in its final crucial match of the season on Saturday. Up the Rams!