Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Torsten Bell)]

The hon. Lady is right to highlight the question of pensioners’ living standards, and we are taking action right the way across the board to deal with that. She will have seen the increases in the state pension in April. We have seen nearly 60,000 extra awards for pension credit over the course of the year since last July, compared with the year previously. On her question about pre-1997 indexation, this issue was recently discussed at the Work and Pensions Committee, and we have set out our response to that Committee’s report.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

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?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. We are proud as a Government to back Rolls-Royce, and to have it as our preferred provider for the small modular reactor programme, resulting in lower bills and more good jobs, particularly in Derbyshire.