First elected: 1st May 1997
Left House: 30th March 2015 (Defeated)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Anne Begg, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Anne Begg has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Anne Begg has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
Anne Begg has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Anne Begg has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.
Results for all wards are available on the Commission's website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls
The ward results for Aberdeen City Council were as follows:
Ward | Green matches | Amber matches | Red matches |
Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee | 78.4% | 2.0% | 19.6% |
Bridge Of Don | 84.4% | 1.5% | 14.1% |
Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone | 79.4% | 3.4% | 17.2% |
George St/Harbour | 46.2% | 8.1% | 45.8% |
Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross | 76.0% | 3.0% | 21.0% |
Hilton/Woodside/Stockethill | 77.2% | 1.9% | 21.0% |
Kincorth/Nigg/Cove | 82.9% | 1.7% | 15.4% |
Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill | 83.0% | 1.3% | 15.7% |
Lower Deeside | 77.6% | 5.4% | 17.0% |
Midstocket/Rosemount | 62.9% | 5.2% | 31.9% |
Northfield/Mastrick North | 85.0% | 1.4% | 13.7% |
Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen | 55.1% | 3.9% | 41.1% |
Torry/Ferryhill | 67.2% | 5.1% | 27.7% |
The ward results for Aberdeenshire County Council were as follows:
Ward | Green matches | Amber matches | Red matches |
Aboyne Upper Deeside And Donside | 72.7% | 9.4% | 17.9% |
Banchory And Mid Deeside | 79.3% | 5.4% | 15.4% |
Banff And District | 78.0% | 6.9% | 15.1% |
Central Buchan | 74.5% | 9.7% | 15.9% |
East Garioch | 79.0% | 4.5% | 16.5% |
Ellon And District | 78.8% | 5.1% | 16.1% |
Fraserburgh And District | 82.2% | 3.1% | 14.7% |
Huntly Strathbogie And Howe Of Alford | 74.5% | 9.4% | 16.1% |
Inverurie And District | 80.3% | 3.3% | 16.4% |
Mearns | 73.7% | 9.1% | 17.1% |
Mid Formartine | 74.9% | 7.9% | 17.2% |
North Kincardine | 78.5% | 4.8% | 16.7% |
Peterhead North And Rattray | 78.6% | 4.5% | 16.9% |
Peterhead South And Cruden | 81.5% | 3.8% | 14.7% |
Stonehaven And Lower Deeside | 80.2% | 4.3% | 15.4% |
Troup | 76.8% | 8.2% | 15.0% |
Turriff And District | 73.7% | 9.4% | 16.9% |
West Garioch | 74.4% | 8.7% | 16.9% |
Westhill And District | 79.5% | 4.4% | 16.1% |
The Government has taken a number of actions to improve the quality of support provided to children being brought up in kinship care arrangements. Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 gives local authorities powers to provide services to support the upbringing of children in need by their families. Local authorities should act on their powers under Section 17 to assess the needs of children living with kinship carers, which should lead to appropriate support to families regardless of whether or not children in their care are looked after.
In March 2011, the Government issued Family and Friends Care Statutory Guidance for local authorities where it is made clear, every authority, in England should have a policy describing how it will promote and support the needs of children living with kinship carers. This policy should be widely available and publicised, using media such as websites and leaflets.
In October and November last year the Department for Education held two national learning days for senior managers and for local authority staff directly involved in supporting family and friends carers. These events raised awareness of legal requirements and encouraged the spread of good professional practice in this important area of work.
In February 2014 the Department set up a working group with local authorities to look at practice issues and best practice with the intention of using these findings in peer to peer support and learning in order to increase the quality of practice across the country.
In May 2014 the Department for Education issued an information leaflet for family and friend carers which explained their legal entitlements for support from local authorities, including under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
I wrote to all local authorities in July 2013 to remind them of their statutory duty to hold a family and friends policy and now 140 have published policies.
The Department is currently defining its detailed policy and processes for validating historic arrears, including those accrued from an Interim Maintenance Assessments (IMA). The intention is that IMA debt will be addressed in order to reduce the amount that will be managed by the Child Maintenance Service. Our detailed approach is under consideration.
The impact assessment (para 93) included high level estimates of (a) the costs (around £103m) of caseworker activity to review and update estimates of arrears on the existing systems for the circa 1.2m cases expected to have arrears when CSA liability ends and (b) the costs (around £20m) to set up arrears on the new child maintenance system. These estimates were based on broad assumptions about the volume and timings of relevant activities and before the detailed business processes and IT involved had been designed or developed.
All letters sent to parents regarding the end of their CSA arrangement, make clear that arrears remain due or owed, even after liability ends.
After arrears have been validated, parents are advised, in writing, of the balance. The parent with care can speak to the CSA if they want to discuss how the figure has been arrived at in further detail. We cannot advise parents of the exact length or detail of the validation process, as it will depend on the circumstances of individual cases.
Both parties are advised to contact Child Maintenance Options for further information about the collection of their arrears. However, after validation, parents with care will be asked whether or not they wish their arrears to be collected.
The overall impact of benefit up-rating on a customer’s income depends on a wide variety of factors (including for example any changes to their non state pensions that occur around the same time) which means we cannot accurately measure these impacts. However, the increases in the basic State Pension under the terms of the triple lock, have been more significant than the reductions in the savings credit. Overall it is unlikely that any Pension Credit customer should be worse off, in cash terms, as a result of the uprating decisions made over the last three years.
Under current plans for ending liability in 1993 and 2003 scheme cases, the Department will validate all CSA arrears, including arrears accrued from Interim Maintenance Assessments and those which have been suspended. The approach was set out in both “Preparing for the future, tackling the past: Child Maintenance – Arrears and Compliance Strategy 2012-2017 and Command Paper Cm8399 “Supporting separated families; securing children’s futures”. The validation process will include caseworkers resolving discrepancies on cases and completing outstanding tasks.
The overall impact of benefit up-rating on a customer’s income depends on a wide variety of factors (including for example any changes to their non state pensions that occur around the same time) which means we cannot accurately measure these impacts. However, the increases in the basic State Pension under the terms of the triple lock, have been more significant than the reductions in the savings credit. Overall it is unlikely that any Pension Credit customer should be worse off, in cash terms, as a result of the uprating decisions made over the last three years.
Child Maintenance Group is still considering the precise number of case closure letters that will be issued each week for Segments 3 and 4. Consequently, it isn’t yet possible to describe how confirmed letter numbers will influence forecasting assumptions. As all CSA cases will need to be closed over the agreed transitional timeline, resource demands will remain the same regardless of whether Segments 3 and 4 are implemented simultaneously.
The proposed, simultaneous closure of Segment 3 and 4 cases will not affect the nature of the Child Maintenance Options supplier contract between G4S and DWP. This contract’s governance arrangement provides for operational resources to be reviewed each month and agreed for three months in advance, taking account of actual service demands versus forecasted business volumes.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is unable to provide the requested information as the DS1500 is completed by various Health Care Professionals from across the UK and the Department is not required to capture this level of Management Information.
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Where work-related requirements do apply, work coaches should already take account of a person's caring responsibilities and the particular circumstances of kinship carers who have older children – for example, ensuring that the work coach considers the impact of any Residence Orders or Special Guardianship Orders on a claimant's capacity to look and be available for work.
The information requested is not available.
Local authorities administer discretionary housing payments. Decisions are based on claimants' individual circumstances. This may include consideration of the specific circumstances that have led to the need for a kinship carer. DWP guidance recommends that local authorities give priority to foster and kinship carers (in Scotland) in allocating discretionary housing payments if more than one extra bedroom is required. Regulations already allow an additional bedroom for foster and kinship (in Scotland) carers.
The Department published an impact assessment on the migration of existing incapacity benefits customers to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) which can be found on the internet at the link below:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/875/pdfs/uksiem_20100875_en.pdf
The Department regularly publishes official statistics on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and the reassessment of Incapacity Benefit claimants. The latest WCA report on Incapacity Benefit reassessment was published in January 2014 and can be found on the internet at the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-january-2014
The latest official statistics show that as of March 2013, 77 per cent of claimants had been found to be eligible for ESA. Around 27 per cent of the caseload had by March 2013 yet to commence the migration process.
The information requested is not available.
Local authorities administer discretionary housing payments. Decisions are based on claimants' individual circumstances. This may include consideration of the specific circumstances that have led to the need for a kinship carer. DWP guidance recommends that local authorities give priority to foster and kinship carers (in Scotland) in allocating discretionary housing payments if more than one extra bedroom is required. Regulations already allow an additional bedroom for foster and kinship (in Scotland) carers.