Catherine McKinnell is the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, and has been an MP continually since 6 May 2010. She currently holds the Government post of Minister of State (Ministry of Justice). Sits on the Public Accounts Committee.
Overall, across health & social care this Parliament
Alive and kicking!
Ranks 19th of 1273 MPs and peers who have spoken on health or care this Parliament — top 1%. 150 contributions since 2024-07-24.
What they’ve raised
Catherine McKinnell has engaged extensively on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through 40 debate speeches, establishing this as a dominant focus alongside maternity and clinical negligence issues. She has consistently advocated for system reform, including investments in specialist places, early intervention programmes, and addressing local authority deficits, whilst also championing improvements to maternity care and calling for limits on clinical negligence payouts to redirect resources toward prevention rather than compensation. A notable personal contribution involved highlighting a constituent's experience of maternity service failure resulting in stillbirth, using this case to illustrate systemic failures in NHS maternity care.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
Record by topic
- Learning disability & autism2nd of 898378.0
- Mental health90th of 86739.0
- Unpaid carers20th of 27724.0
- Adult social care & reform38th of 36112.0
- NHS & care workforce/staffing61st of 2956.0
- Maternity & neonatal130th of 4276.0
- Public health & prevention249th of 6836.0
- NHS waiting lists198th of 530
What they’ve said
“…Her baby Seren was born stillborn. The NHS spends almost as much on clinical negligence payouts as it does on maternity care itself. Can the Secretary of State update us on progress made following the Lock review into clinical negligence? It is about time we started investing in better care, rather than paying out for…”
National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation · 2026-06-30 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Yet sadly, Amie is far from alone. Failures at maternity units across the country have sadly returned to the spotlight in recent years. The Secretary of State was right to commission a national review, led by Baroness Amos.”
Clinical Negligence · 2026-03-17 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Any reform will be guided by how we improve support for children with SEND. There will always be a legal right to additional support, which this Government will protect.…”
SEND: Education, Health and Care Plans · 2025-07-21 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…Gentleman is pre-empting decisions before they have been made. We have not made decisions about the future of EHCPs. We are listening carefully and working with the sector to make sure we have the workforce in the system and the support systems to identify needs early.”
Topical Questions · 2025-07-21 · Read on Hansard ↗