Helen Catherine Goodman (born 2 January 1958) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament for Bishop Auckland from 2005 to 2019.

A member of the Labour Party, she was Deputy Leader of the House of Commons from 2007 to 2008 and a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2009 to 2010.

She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Somerville College, Oxford and worked as a researcher for Labour MP Phillip Whitehead upon graduation.

Goodman was selected as the Labour candidate for Bishop Auckland for the 2005 general election, through an all-women shortlist, following the retirement of incumbent MP Derek Foster.

In June 2009, Goodman became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, with responsibility for child poverty and childcare.

[10] Other work included developing Labour's policy on the crisis in Hong Kong in 2019, visiting Colombia in May 2019 to meet various stakeholders involved in the implementation of Colombia's faltering peace process and frequently pressing the UK Government to act on a number of human rights issues including the treatment of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, the Rohingya refugee crisis and the rights of West Papuans.

In 2010, she ran a successful campaign in conjunction with The Northern Echo to save the Zurbarán paintings at Auckland Castle when the Commissioners of the Church of England threatened to sell them.

She was a leading campaigner for indicative parliamentary votes to resolve Brexit,[17] and supported the proposal to remain in the EU customs union during the March 2019 ballots.

[18][19] In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph revealed that Goodman had claimed £519.31 for use of a cottage in her own constituency on her expenses, and had submitted hotel bills dated two months prior to being elected to the House of Commons.