Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Week beginning 18^th May – Goodbye Mr Speaker.

 

This week was an historic week obviously dominated by the speculation and then the announcement that the Speaker was to resign. As a result, I found myself doing quite a lot of media such as Radio Scotland’s Newsdrive, Scotland at 10, BBC2’s Holyrood Live and a long interview for the online Women's Parliamentary Radio.

 . 

Because the expenses controversy has been so damaging to the reputation of Parliament I decided to post all my claims under the Additional Costs Allowance here on my website. It took a large part of the weekend to get them in a form which wouldn’t reveal anybody’s personal data.  However, to show that I had nothing to hide, on Monday I also gave access to everything the Telegraph has to the Lobby correspondent for the Press and Journal. 

 

Of course the normal work of Parliament had to continue on as well.  Therefore, on Monday afternoon I also chaired a Statuary Instrument Committee on Climate Change. It lasted the full hour and a half which is quite unusual for these types of committees. 

 

Tuesday morning was taken up with a meeting of the Speaker’s Conference which had to take place on an informal basis as we were unfortunately not quorate.  However, it seemed that events were overtaking us. I had lunch with Mark Thomson, Director General of the BBC, and inevitably the coverage of the expenses story dominated.  The rest of the day was filled with the Speaker’s statement and other meetings but it was difficult to concentrate with such historic events going on around me.

 

On Wednesday the Pensions Minister, Rosie Winterton MP, appeared in front of my Select Committee as part of our pensioner poverty inquiry. I was able to ask her about the issue raised with my by a constituent just last week. One of the meetings I had in the afternoon was about setting up an All Party Rare Diseases Group, and then it was into the Chamber for a debate on the BBC licence fee for next year. After catching up with some work, the evening was spent at a reception held by the RNIB to say thank you to all the MPs who had helped in their campaign to secure the higher rate DLA mobility element for blind people. 

 

Thursday and it was back to Aberdeen for constituent surgeries. I also managed to pop in past the All Energy Conference at the AECC and meet some renewable energy companies from Aberdeen.  It is a conference which has really grown and is much more professional every time I visit.

 

Friday consisted of more surgeries and meetings about subjects ranging from the future of Aberdeen Airport to the Shopmobility scheme.

I would have some witty and intelligent analysis to share with you but alas I have an exam tomorrow so it'll have to wait. ;)

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.


Week in Westminster - from soldiers to stadiums.

Another shortish week in Westminster as I returned to Aberdeen on Thursday morning for a meeting with Aberdeen Football Club about their plans to build a new stadium at Loirston Loch. The fans are against it, the people of Cove are against it, the people in Kincorth who use the area extensively are against it, and the land was zoned as Green Belt as recently as last year. Difficult to see how it can be supported.


However, it did mean I missed the votes on MPs' expenses. If anything is a poisoned chalice this is it.

Arrived in Westminster at lunchtime on Monday to speak at and then Chair a couple of sessions of an IPU (Inter Parliamentary Union) discussing the implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities. The UK has signed up but has not yet ratified so much discussion around the UK reservations. The IPU brings together Parliamentarians from all around the world to discuss issues of common interest. The majority of the delegates on this occasion were from Eastern European countries.


The Equality Bill was also published on Monday so I attended a launch event with Harriet Harman who has been the driving force behind getting a Bill that was a well received as these things can be. (Harriet also came up to Aberdeen on Saturday to promote the bill)


If it's Tuesday then it must be Cambridge. My Select Committee was out and about speaking to pensioners about how they were managing financially as part of our new inquiry. I think it is important that MPs don't do everything in the Westminster bubble but get out into the 'real world' as well.


It was then back to Westminster in time for all the votes on the Budget resolutions. Only 4 this year went to actual vote so finished around 11 pm. Some years it takes us to well after midnight.


Wednesday began with a 6.55 am interview on Good Morning Scotland about my Select Committee Report on the Equality Bill which was finally published today. If you live in Aberdeen or the North East and listen to GMS but didn't hear me, that's because there is the North East opt out at 6.55! (Perfect timing)


Later that day, Prime Minister Questions is dominated by the Gurkhas. As is the discussion on Holyrood Live on BBC2 which I take part in at 3 pm while the debate was going on in the Chamber. At 4pm there was the surprise defeat of the government motion. The meeting of the Scottish Group with the Prime Minister which was to take place in No 10 is therefore moved to his Commons office. Interesting discussion! The day ended with a statement on what the government would do about the Gurkhas in light of the vote.


Oh, and a group of us had lunch with the Faeroese Foreign Minister.


As I said earlier, I came up early on Thursday to have a meeting with Aberdeen Football Club and then the rest of the day, and the whole of Friday, was taken up by constituent surgeries. I then got to spend an enjoyable night on Friday speaking at the Aberdeen University Debater.



An interesting week in Westminster it seems. Hopefully the issues regarding the Gurkhas can be resolved, given the work they've done for this country I think they deserve the right to live here and receive the benefits of our healthcare system.

Did anyone go to the debate? I was busy so i couldn't make it, and I haven't heard how it went.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Week beginning 20^th April - A day and a half in Westminster.

A shorter week than usual at Westminster as I had the funeral of a University friend, who died suddenly, in Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon. This meant missing the Budget Speech and the frision of excitement that reverberates around the Chamber. However, I can't be in 2 places at once. Nevertheless, I still managed to have an incredibly busy week.

In the day and a half I was in Westminster I managed to pack in a huge amount. On Monday we agreed the text of our latest Select Committee Report on the Equality Bill which will be published next week. I also had an Adjournment Debate at the end of Monday's sitting on Pain Services in England. As there is no vote, my debate began just after 10 pm and I have to explain why a Scottish MP was talking about an English topic when pain services for my own constituents are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament. It is because I am the Chair of the newly formed All Party Group on Chronic Pain.

Members of the Chronic Pain Policy Coalition were in the Gallery to hear the debate so I took them for a drink in Strangers bar afterwards. It was soft drinks all round - honest. The Minister who had replied to the debate, Ann Kean, also arrived so I was able to introduce them to each other. The members of the Coalition all went home very happy.

Tuesday began with another public evidence session of the Speaker's Conference with representatives from the 3 main parties. We were very topical as there had been a great deal in the weekend press about 'Smeargate'.

Later I grabbed a quick bite to eat with Frank Doran, MP for Aberdeen North, and one of my constituents, Professor Hugh Pennington, and then rushed over to the Treasury for a meeting on the Seafarers' Earnings Deduction with the Chief Secretary, Stephen Timms MP. I won't bore you here with all the technical details but feel free to e-mail me if you are interested and want to find out more.

It was then back to Portcullis House for a preview of the rough cut of the new YouTube video which the Speaker's Conference will be launching to encourage people to participate in our deliberations. I thought it was ten times too long so it will have to be cut quite a bit before it goes online. After that I had a meeting of the All Party Offshore Oil and Gas group with the Energy Minister, Mike O'Brien. Luckily there is a hairdresser in the House of Commons so I was able to fit in a quick hair cut before meeting with someone from POST, the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology, which is charged with making sure Parliamentarians understand scientific issues.

Of course there was also voting to be done before I was able to get home at around 10.30 pm, setting the alarm for 5.15 am so as to get up in time for the plane back to Edinburgh in time for the funeral.

It was then back to Aberdeen on Wednesday evening in time to get to a meeting of the Aberdeen Disability Action Group (ALDAG). On Thursday I had surgeries with constituents and Ann McKechin MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Scotland Office, came up to take part in a Women's Listening Panel with some of my female constituents and also came along to see the work of the credit union NESCU in Torry. It was then back down to London on Friday to speak at a Conference of the World Federation of Guild Guides.

A busy week in Westminster this week. Not as packed as a student's week, but still busy nonetheless. :P

On a side note is it just me or has the tiresome media habit of adding "gate" to the end of every situation in which something bad happens way past its sell by date. It's a cheap and simplistic way of artificially compressing complex issues into soundbites, and it serves no purpose except taking the strain of original thought and honest reliable reporting from the media.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.


Week beginning 16th March - Campaign Pays Off!


Made it down to London by early afternoon on Monday to attend a meeting of my Select Committee. However, this week's big story was not until Tuesday night.
It is always satisfying when years of campaigning pays off and so it proved on Tuesday. It has been almost 3 years since some of the blind workers from Glencraft lobbied me and my colleague Frank Doran about an anomaly in the benefit system which meant blind people didn't qualify for the upper rate of the mobility element of the Disability Living Allowance. A campaign was orchestrated by the RNIB to address this, which included 2 mass lobbies of Parliament; a delegation of MPs, including myself, going to see the Minister for Disabled people; and another delegation to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. We had also had 3 EDMs on this matter, the last in my name which attracted the largest number of signatures this parliamentary session.

The opportunity came up to address this situation with the Welfare Reform Bill currently going through Parliament. A clause was added to this which the government didn't oppose. I added my tuppence worth in the debate on remaining stages too. That was certainly the highlight of the week and the 2 meetings of my Select Committee and the session spent Chairing Westminster Hall on Tuesday afternoon couldn't compare.

PMQs was back to its usual adversarial nature on Wednesday with unemployment dominating a sometimes heated session between the Prime Minister and David Cameron.
I also had a rather interesting day on Thursday. I had been invited to give the keynote speech at a leadership training event for disabled people organised by RADAR, the disability organisation. It was in Hammersmith so we traveled by tube. This may not sound much but it is a real novelty if you use a wheelchair as most of the Underground network is inaccessible.

I had to rush back to the House later that day to take part in an event organised by Parliament's Education Service and supported by the Speaker's Conference. It was for 150 girls from schools in East London to get them to think about women's participation in public life. It was great and I think the politicians present got as much out of it as the schoolgirls. The Q and A session was conducted by Sarah Montegue from the Today programme on Radio 4.

Friday will be quite eventful with constituent surgeries, followed by a visit to a to a social enterprise in my constituency called Stewart Craft Centre, and then in the evening I will be hosting an event for the leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament, Iain Gray MSP.


I think it's excellent to hear that some good hard campaigning has paid off.

I don't know if anyone reading this was at the event with Iain Gray or has seen him speak in the past, but I was lucky enough to get along and see him and once again I was impressed by his ideas for Labour and his directness as a speaker. i think he's a very good leader for labour in Scotland.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.


Week beginning 9th March – Engaging Women and Young People.

As I had spent a large part of the weekend in Dundee at the Scottish Labour Party Conference, I hadn't managed to write my article for the House magazine nor had I held my usual Friday surgery. Therefore, I was up at 6.30am on Monday morning to write my article and was in the Aberdeen office that morning for surgeries. I, therefore, didn't fly down to London until 3pm. The journey usually takes around 5 hours door to door, sometimes 4 and a half if everything goes smoothly. On Monday it took only 4 hours! Wish it was always so quick.

I arrived in the House in good time to attend a reception in the Speaker's house in memory of Lord Norman Hogg who died at the end of last year. This was followed by a dinner attended by his friends and colleagues from both the Commons and the Lords. Although Norman had been the MP for Cumbernauld, it was to his roots in Aberdeen he returned to when he entered the Lords. There was lots of laughter as everyone told their favourite story about him. I think he would have enjoyed it.

Tuesday was dominated by the Speaker's Conference. We took evidence in the morning from young people and those who aim to educate them about the workings of Parliament. The message came across that we needed to 'get out there' and engage with young people who are interested in issues, if not the formal aspects of political life. We did just that in the afternoon when we met up with some of the participants of a young leadership scheme in Bethnal Green called Uprising. It was great fun and really interesting from our point of view. There were more young women than men and almost all of them were from an ethnic minority. All were interested and engaged. Just the group of people we need to persuade that politics matters.

I was also on a charm offensive on Wednesday to persuade a group of women that they, too, should consider politics at an event in the House of Lords to mark International Women's Day. My speech seemed to go down well. Either that or they were just being nice.

Prime Minister's Questions was very subdued this week, partly because it was the first time David Cameron had been in the Chamber since the death of his son, but mostly due to the murders of 2 soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland over the weekend. PMQs is usually a bear pit, but the Chamber also seems to instinctively know when this would be inappropriate.

As a result it was agreement all round when the only Scottish Tory MP, David Mundell, and I appeared on the Holyrood Live programme on BBC2 that afternoon. It is quite hard doing a down the line interview from College Green across the road from Parliament with all the traffic rumbling past.

I had a meeting with a DWP Minister on Thursday about an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill for grandparents when it returns to the Commons next week and Friday is shaping up to be a particularly busy day for constituent surgeries.

It was also great to have some constituents visiting me in Parliament this week. Not that I ever forget the great privilege it is to work in such a magnificent building. However, it is wonderful to experience it afresh through new eyes again every once in a while.



From Monday's entry it seems that it's not just students that have to get up early sometimes to catch up on late work.:P

Another good week when it comes to equal opportunities, encoraging women to stand for election is one very useful way to iron out the gender gap (more like chasm) in British politics. (A gap, I would add, that is not so evident at Co-op party meetings.)

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Week beginning 2nd March – Conference Week

Monday was dominated by media interest in the story of the Council's desperation for money that they are now sending in the debt collectors to an 80 year old partially sighted woman. Mrs. Still had come to me complaining she had been charged for a community alarm she didn't want and I was still in correspondence with the Council about her bill for £17.50 when the debt collectors called.

However, the big event of this week was the second public evidence session of the Speaker's Conference about political participation on Tuesday. While I enjoy being in the Chair it does curtail my opportunity to ask questions. We were taking evidence from Unlock Democracy, the TUC and EHRC. Things got lively when Unlock Democracy suggested candidates who didn't have the money to fight for selection to a seat should receive taxpayers’ money. While there is an issue about the cost involved in standing for selection and then election, the suggested solution didn't go down too well.

It was the Chair of the EHRC, Trevor Philips, who inevitably attracted media attention. That is probably why the sketch writer for the Daily Mail, Quentin Letts, turned up. As is his want, he wasn't very flattering in his column on Wednesday. The EHRC has come up with some controversial suggestions of its own such all ethnic minority shortlists and term limits for MPs. The thinking is that if MPs are only allowed to stand for 4 elections there will be a faster turn over which opens the doors for new candidates. However, this won't change anything if the political parties continue to choose white men as candidates.

Wednesday saw Harriet Harman stand in for the Prime Minster again at Question Time where she was quizzed by William Hague. I personally thought that she did quite well.

As Secretary of the All Party BBC group, I also hosted a breakfast on behalf of BBC Scotland for all Scottish MPs on Thursday. To my relief it was very well attended. Responsibility for broadcasting remains at Westminster, but there is definitely a Scottish dimension. That's why I also attended a meeting of the new Scottish Broadcasting All Party Group about the digital switchover.

After breakfast it was straight to the airport to get back to Aberdeen to meet some constituents and to attend a CBI dinner addressed by Jim Murphy, the Secretary of State for Scotland. It did mean that I missed the debate on International Women's Day, but unfortunately I can't do everything.

For a change, this Friday I traveled down to Dundee for Scottish Labour Party Conference. Always a good time to meet up with old friends.



Once again the council stoops to a new low in their desperate attempts to dig themselves out of the massive debt hole they are in.

Also again this week Anne has spent time on issues related to equality which is an area that I think Labour should spend more time. I have mentioned here before the shocking lack of representation in parliament of any group that is not white men. As Anne said the situation will not change until the political parties do select people other than white men.

The problem of the lack of diversity is also more than just an under representation of political groups. People derive impressions of individuals and groups when they see or interact with them. Having such a skewed legislature creates the impression that politics is for white men only. This has the potential to discourage people (especially children) who aren't in this group from becoming involved in politics which exacerbates and continues the problem, and fosters feelings of marginilisation which should be tackled.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's official website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Week beginning 23rd February – A Sad Week.

Before I left Aberdeen on Monday I had to do a lot of interviews about my claim that the Council were intending to force adults with a learning disability from their supported accommodation and into an Old Folks Home once they reach 65 in order to save money. I was finding it difficult to believe they were really planning to do this even although it is the clear interpretation of the documents I had seen. It was certainly what the relatives thought too. I genuinely believed that by the end of the day the Council would have rebutted my claim saying it wasn't true. No such luck. All we got was Liberal Democrat Councillor, Gordon Leslie, the social care spokesperson for the Council, admitting that they were going to do what I had alleged. And to make matters worse, he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it.

It is now the end of the week and the Council still haven't issued a formal statement, except for one about day care when I what I had raised was residential care. Surely they know the difference, don't they?

Anyway, I arrived in Westminster on Monday just in time to attend the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party addressed by Gordon Brown. He was incredibly passionate and got a very warm reception.

On Tuesday, my Select Committee finalised our latest Report into Contract Commissioning and the Flexible New

Deal. It will be published next week but I can't say what its conclusions are otherwise I would be breaking Parliamentary rules and could be disciplined and thrown off the Committee.

Wednesday saw me and the other members of the Speaker’s Conference begin the task of interviewing people who might act as Advisers. Final interviews will be held next week and then we have to make a decision.

Later on that day, and for the first time in my life, I was interviewed for Pink Times on the work of the Speaker's Conference. Being Vice-chair of the Conference seems to be getting me into some unusual places.

At lunch I shared a table with Joan Bakewell, at an event held by the Employers Forum on Age. Joan is one of my icons and is looking remarkable for her age. Now she is in her mid 70's she has been appointed by government to speak for older people.

It may be well past 'Burns season', but Mr Speaker hosted his annual Burns Supper on Wednesday evening. And, yes, he does play the bagpipes!

Thursday afternoon was spent in Westminster Hall participating in a debate on the Work and Pensions Select Committee report on carers. Carers need respite, but that is being taken away from many in Aberdeen because the council is cutting the services that disabled people get. This will have a huge impact on carers who don't get a rest or a break to do the normal things in life.

Nevertheless, this week was clearly dominated by the tragic death of David Cameron's 6 year old son, Ivan. So instead of Prime Minister's questions we had very emotional statements from both the Prime Minister and William Hague. There were a lot of tears in people's eyes, including mine. Some things transcend Party politics.

I'm sure that I'm not the only person disturbed by the notion of the council taking vulnerable people away from specialist care in order to save money. It seems that no matter how low the council stoops, it can always get just a little bit worse.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.


Evidently it's not just Aberdeen which has seen snow doing a vanishing act. (Seriously snow on the ground all last week, then yesterday I woke up to find it mostly gone and today has been pretty balmy if overcast.) Another week of meetings for Anne goes to show that being an MP isn't just about spending your time drinking champagne on the yachts of Russian businessmen. (Well it is for some MPs.)

Week beginning 9th February – Snow gone: London working again!

(Apologies for the delay in posting this week’s instalment but my computer decided to switch itself off just as I was typing it up!)

It has been one of those weeks where I seem to have either been in meetings or attending events all week and have spent little time in the Chamber or in the office clearing the mountain of paperwork and e-mails that seem to accumulate. I've had two meetings of my Select Committee; one meeting of the Speaker's Conference; chaired a European Standing Committee on Asylum this week; had a meeting with Swedish MPs to discuss Welfare Reform; and attended a summit of elected Labour women.

On Monday I also hosted the annual reception of the All Party Offshore Oil and Gas group which was attended by many of the big names from the industry. Perhaps unsurprisingly quite a few were from Aberdeen. It was the first outing of the new Secretary of State at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband MP, who addressed the gathering. I was just introducing him when the division bells began to ring and all the MPs had to troop off to vote. However, 15 minutes later we were back and the introduction could continue.

Tuesday seemed to be taken up entirely by meetings, and on Wednesday, while my colleagues all trouped off to the Channel 4 headquarters for their Parliamentary Awards; I attended a working dinner on rare diseases. While health may generally be a devolved issue, there are certain things that would be much better delivered as part of a UK-wide strategy and rare diseases policy is one of them. It looks like there is a lot of campaigning ahead to get a UK framework agreed.

Thursday in Westminster was relatively quiet apart from the meeting with the Swedish delegation but Friday in the constituency was even busier than normal as I gave a talk to politics students at RGU about the role of an MP, had a meeting with the new Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council, and spent the afternoon having constituent surgeries.

My next Week in Westminster will be coming to you from Aberdeen as the week beginning 16th February is a constituency recess week.

Do you love campaigning?

ICampaigining


If the answer is yes you may be interested in going out leafleting this Saturday on behalf of Anne Begg, the MP for Aberdeen South.


Anne Begg will be organising a leafleting session to deliver the last of her Council Cuts Surveys in the Ferryhill area on Saturday 14th February.


If you can make it along, everyone will be meeting up outside the Ferryhill House Hotel at 10.30am, with the session probably taking no longer than an hour.


Lastly, Anne would just like to thank everyone that has come out and helped deliver these surveys over the previous weeks and months. Anne has had a really strong response from them, which has made all the hard work worthwhile.



View Larger Map

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Bad weather was the theme of Anne's Week in Westminster this week. Hopefully the snow that has been causing chaos elsewhere will not show up in Aberdeen now. I'm certainly not loooking forward to the walk to the station to get a train through the snow that's falling and it's not even that bad yet. Plus as attractive as the idea of cancelled lectures is the reality of having to catch up with missed material is not so appealing. So here's hoping for a bit of warm weather.


Week beginning 2nd Feb - Snow, snow and more snow.

They say it was the worst snow in London for 16 years and I would not surprise me if this was the case. It took me the whole of Monday to get down to London. Heathrow was effectively closed so I had to fly into Gatwick and pray that the Gatwick Express was running. Luckily by 9pm there was a skeleton service but it hadn't been running at all earlier in the day.

As a result of the snow, I missed a meeting of my Select Committee which took place on Monday afternoon, and the 2nd evidence session of the Speaker's Conference on Tuesday was cancelled as some of the witnesses couldn't get in.

The only advantage to all this was I reached the bottom of my reading pile. I don't think I have ever managed that before!

The Speaker didn’t reach my question during Scottish Questions on Wednesday, but at Business Questions on Thursday I did get the chance to raise the difficulties being faced by businesses in my constituency due to the reluctance of banks to lend them money.

The icing on the top of a frustrating week was when I arrived home at 11 pm on Thursday night to discover the wheelchair carrier on my car didn’t work, leaving me stranded. My grateful thanks go to the neighbour who got out of bed to get my spare wheelchair out of the house (you know who you are).

This Friday, I will have a Civil Servant from the UK Identity and Passport Service work-shadowing me all day to see how an MP’s constituency office functions. He will hopefully be allowed to sit in on some of my surgery appointments and I will be taking him along to a presentation by a new offshore oil operator in the afternoon.


The question asked by Anne during Thursday's Business Questions:

In his reply to my hon. Friend David Taylor, the Minister said that the scheme came on top of the finance already available—but does the Minister think that the banks are playing ball? A small business—well, it is not actually that small—contacted me: RBS has found any excuse to restructure its loan, and has charged it 1 per cent. for doing so. It is a profitable business that is looking to expand, but it finds it very difficult to get what would, in normal circumstances, be classed as normal finance. It feels that it is being taken for a ride by the bank.

It seems more and more that the more I hear about the activities of the banking sector the less I like it. The banks have dug themselves into a nice hole and then not only expect the tax payer to bail them out but also think that they can continue to treat their customers however they like. I'd like to point out that the members of a customer driven co-operative would not allow it to act in such a manner.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Week beginning 26th January – Always be prepared for PMQs.

It is not unusual as an MP to have more than one meeting or event on at the same time and juggling them all can be quite a struggle. The job of managing an MP’s diary is not an easy one. However, Monday this week was quite extreme. I had four meetings on at the same time, all of which I wanted to attend but couldn’t. So at 4 o’clock I popped into my Select Committee meeting for 25 minutes and agreed I would try to get back before the evidence session was over. Then it was on to a planning meeting for the Speaker’s Conference to discuss how we would tackle our outreach programme. I was Chairing this meeting so I had to be there from 4.30 until it finished at 5.30. As I was rushing back to my Select Committee I discovered I was too late, it had already finished, so instead I put my head round the door of meeting number 3, with the Scottish Colleges, only to find out that it was also finished. I didn’t even try to get to my 4th meeting which was the Labour Party’s Prosperity and Work policy commission.

I finished the evening at a meeting of the European Parliamentary Labour Party where we discussed campaigning for the upcoming European elections in June. Not only was the Prime Minister there, but so was Eddie Izzard who is a passionate European.

Spent almost all of Tuesday attending debates and questions. In the morning it was the debate in Westminster Hall on Equitable Life. I have a meeting with constituents who have lost out because of the collapse of Equitable Life on Friday evening so wanted to attend the discussions. I spent the afternoon and evening in the Chamber, taking part in the 2nd Reading Debate on the Welfare Reform Bill. So many people wanted to take part there was a 10 minute time limit on backbench speeches. Although my question for Equalities questions hadn’t made it onto the Order Paper I was called to ask a question about equal pay.

Wednesday began as usual with a meeting of my Select Committee discussing our future programme. The first draft of our Report on Commissioning will be ready on Thursday so I will be reading up on that over the weekend so that I have my amendments ready before we discuss it next week.

I had come out at number 13 at Prime Minister’s Questions, way too far down the list to get called – we only reached question 6 last week. However, by Wednesday morning I was at number 12 as someone must have pulled out, but still didn’t think I would get called. Just in case I thought I better have something ready. Thank goodness I did, as I was the last to be called so asked the PM if he could persuade the SNP administration in Holyrood to provide treatment and rehabilitation for drug addicts if they wish to receive full benefits. This was one of the issues which I had been discussed during the Welfare Reform Bill debate the day before.

Later, I spent a very pleasant evening at a Burns Supper in the House. My Aberdeen colleague, Frank Doran, did the Toast to the Lasses and I did the reply. It was a good laugh and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Back to the Chamber on Thursday morning and a question on student debt. I also had a couple of meetings, attended the launch of a project called “sustainability” by Leonard Cheshire, and attempted to clear some of my e-mails. Before I knew it, it was time to leave for the airport.

It doesn’t look like I will be leaving the office at all on Friday, with surgeries pencilled in all day and then, in the evening, my meeting with constituents about the Equitable Life compensation scheme.

Another very busy week which included this zinger against the SNP on the question of student debt (emphasis mine):

While defaulting on their loan is always difficult for any student, may I advise my right hon. Friend not to go down the same route as in Scotland, where one political party promised that it would write off all student debt? It got elected and discovered that it could not do that, and that there is no such quick fix. [Hon. Members: "Which party?] It was the Scottish National party. Students voted believing it was going to deliver on that promise, but it turned out to be a mirage. Can I get the assurance that this Government will not give such false hope to students?

Anne Begg again showed this week her dedication to equality. Equal pay which she raised a question about in the house has also recently been an issue in the US, with Obama showing his dedication to equality.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Week beginning 19th January – Obamamania.

On Monday, my Select Committee began to take evidence for the inquiry into the Equalities Bill. However, there was no escaping from the Obama effect this week

On Tuesday morning Obama’s achievement dominated the first public meeting of the Speaker’s Conference of which I am vice-chair. We had Operation Black Vote, RADAR and the Women’s Institute giving evidence on how we can get more women, disabled people and people from ethnic minorities into Parliament. The theme was ‘If he can do it, so can we’.

At 4.30pm later that day I was Chairing a European Scrutiny Committee on “Food for deprived areas”. It could have lasted for two and a half hours but we finished at 5pm just as Obama was being sworn in. However, within minutes the division bells began to ring and we all had to go off to vote. I got through the lobby just in time to catch the end of his speech. It seemed that every monitor in the Palace of Westminster was tuned into the event

I had an All Party Equalities Group meeting on Wednesday where we discussed the use of public sector procurement to encourage the private sector to embed equality in their employment practices. Later that day, I also found myself in front of the cameras as we recorded an interview with BBC Parliament about the Speaker’s Conference. It should be going out on Friday evening and I will put up a link to it here as soon as it goes up.

Despite all this, the undoubted highlight of my week was an event at Dover House, the home of the Scotland Office in Whitehall. I just thought I was going to a launch of a new coin and set of stamps to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. The event also included entertainment from school children who had been winners of the Burns Federation Competition. Unexpectedly, there was a good turnout from Aberdeen, and my constituency in particular. One performer was a young 9 year old boy from Peterculter Primary School who played a set of bagpipes which seemed bigger than he was. His name is Calum Brown and, as it turns out, I had met him before when he was a new-born baby and his mother was threatened by deportation! I can assure you it was quite an emotional reunion.

After Wednesday’s events Thursday was fairly quiet comparatively, but I will have an especially frenzied schedule on Friday with constituent surgeries in the morning and afternoon interspersed with other meetings in the constituency.


It's good to see Parliament taking diversity in office seriously [see Tuesday], the best way (in my opinion) to make sure that everyone is treated equally in a fair and equitable society is to make sure that they are properly represented by a diverse legislative body. There are simply too many white men in the House of Commons and I think any move towards balance is a good thing.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

The new year brings in a return to work, and not just for students. Anne Begg MP is back to work as well and by the sounds of it she's had a busy week.

Week beginning 12th January -A week can fly by in politics.

The Christmas recess is over and it is back to Westminster with a completely full diary. At least the extra week in the constituency meant I had the chance to catch up, well almost catch up, with the backlog of mail and e-mails from the last 2 weeks. Just as well really as there was precious little time to draw breath this week.

I was later down to London than normal on Monday as BA has taken off my usual plane for the whole of January! Therefore, I didn't get into the Chamber to hear David Miliband's statement on Gaza so I had to read it later. There was an excellent turnout outside M&S in Aberdeen for Saturday’s demonstration against the bombing; it was the first time I had ever addressed a crowd using a megaphone.

By the end of the day on Monday, I had managed to put down an Early Day Motion asking the government to consider allowing grandparents, who care for grandchildren while the children’s parents are at work, to be able to qualify for National Insurance care credits.

Ombudsman’s Reports also feature prominently this week. On Tuesday, one report was released into an individual constituent’s case which I had taken to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. My constituent had been made bankrupt by the actions of the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who consistently refused to admit their mistake for a long time. The Report was very critical of the way HMRC behaved and, while I wish it had never had to get to that stage, the report was evidence of how tenacity pays off. The second was the government’s response to the Ombudsman’s report into Equitable Life. I was keen to be in the Chamber for the statement as I have a large number of constituents who lost out when the Society collapsed and I did get to ask a question.

We had 2 meetings of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, a briefing on our new enquiry into the proposed Equality Bill on Monday and a second with the Secretary of State, James Purnell, on Wednesday about the effects on unemployment and welfare reform by the economic downturn. I had a few questions on how those who have been out of the labour market for some time expect to compete with the newly unemployed. I was robust but the Minister was even more robust in insisting that we shouldn't write anyone off or leave them behind. Equality featured quite highly in other meetings this week. One with the new Parliamentary officer of the EHRC and the other with the officials of the Speaker's conference I'll be Vice-Chairing to discuss how we might proceed.

Had so many meetings this I wasn’t able to spend as much time in the Chamber as I would have liked. I did, however, get a question in about breaking the cycle of deprivation at Cabinet Office questions on Wednesday.

And I missed the most exciting thing which happened in the Chamber all week. The monitor was on in the office but the sound was off as I was hosting a meeting so only realised something had happened when the Division Bells started ringing. So what was it? On Thursday, John McDonnell MP took the Mace off its cradle during the government’s statement on the 3rd Heathrow runway and was suspended for 5 days for his bad behaviour. He loses his wages too for the time he is suspended.

Friday will be busy as usual with meetings pencilled in with a local renewables company and a social enterprise business on Rosemount followed by surgeries with constituents. Phew! What a week!



Quite a busy week indeed, and I think you might agree a productive one. I'm sure the constituent she referenced for one will have appreciated having such a staunch advocate working on his behalf against HMRC. Perhaps the public would have a better impression of MPs if they had a better idea of what they do, certainly I feel that reading about an MP's activities helps me to understand the important role they can play in helping their constituents.

Personally I think that the idea of extending tax credits to Grandparents sounds like a fantastic idea; a lot of people cannot afford child care and so have to rely on family, rewarding the work done by a large number of retirees is laudable and also perhaps could help to tackle the marginalisation of the elderly in society by emphasising just one of the important roles they can play.

Leafleting in Aberdeen South

I just got this message from Gavin who works for Anne Begg, the MP for Aberdeen South, concerning a leafleting session this Friday. I won't be able to make it because I'm not in Aberdeen but I would encourage anyone who has a few hours free to go along. Leafleting is one of the fundamentals of campaigning and is especially important with an election on the horizon, plus I'm sure it will make a nice break from the grind of studying.

Just to let you know that Anne is organising a leafleting session on Saturday 17th January in Peterculter in order to deliver the remainder of her Aberdeen Council Cuts Surveys. We will be meeting at 11am at the car park of The Ploughman pub, Peterculter.

If you can make it along on Saturday, please either email Anne at begga@parliament.uk or phone Gavin on 01224 252704. (There may be lifts available if you do not have your own transport)


View Larger Map

If you can’t make it on Saturday but would still like to help out, there are also a number of leaflet runs in Ferryhill and Rosemount that still need to be done over the next few weeks. If you think you can help deliver these please contact Anne or Gavin on the contact details given above.

Hope to see you on Saturday.

Gavin

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Whilst us lucky students have been busily "working" towards the end of term this week Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg has been having another busy week down in Westminster.

Week beginning 15th Dec- A week dominated by Chairing.

As a member of the Speaker's panel of Chairmen I regularly have to Chair committees of the House or debates in Westminster Hall, which acts as a Second Chamber. On Monday and Tuesday this week I chaired 2 Statutory Instrument committees, one about the rescue package for banks and another on amendments to Child Benefit.

However, the highlight of my week was the first meeting in my new role as Vice Chair of the newly formed Speaker's Conference on Tuesday. Speaker's Conferences are extremely rare, there have only been 5 in the history of parliament, and are established to look at a specific aspect of electoral law. This Conference is predominately tasked with looking at the under representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons. Previous conferences have proposed such important developments as votes for women (1916) and the reduction of the voting age to 18 (1965).

The first meeting was an informal private one so we could hear from some academics about the issues under consideration. As Vice-Chair I will be Chairing most of the business meetings - the first public one will be on 20th January 2009. It is a real honour to be asked to do this and I feel privileged that I can play a part in such an important discussion.

My intervention in the Chamber this week was also on Tuesday during Health Questions. While most aspects of health are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, there are still some aspects which aren't, such as the regulation of prescription drugs. You can see my question here.

Select Committee on Wednesday was a one off evidence session on the work of the Pension, Disability and Carers Service. I was able to ask some questions about the workings of Disability Living Allowance. This is where my work in Parliament and my constituency work can cross, as the questions I asked were prompted by real life examples I have come across from my contact with constituents.

The government has also just produced its response to the Select Committee’s report into Carers, which we published in the summer. It was more positive than some government responses have been in the past, so hopefully some of the recommendations we made will be adopted.

I flew back to Aberdeen on Thursday as I was invited to judge the Young Philanthropists Initiative at Torry Academy. This year’s winners were a group of pupils who were promoting a local charity, Befriend a Child, a befriending service for deprived and vulnerable children in Aberdeen.

Office to close for 2 weeks for Christmas on Friday evening, the only time the office is closed all year, so it is a mad rush to get as much as possible cleared. Never mind though, the mail will still be delivered to my house over the holiday period and the e-mails will doubtless pour in as usual.


I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers the very best for the festive season.

I would like to draw your attention to one paragraph in particular:

However, the highlight of my week was the first meeting in my new role as Vice Chair of the newly formed Speaker's Conference on Tuesday. Speaker's Conferences are extremely rare, there have only been 5 in the history of parliament, and are established to look at a specific aspect of electoral law. This Conference is predominately tasked with looking at the under representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons.

I think the one of the best ways to secure equality in society is to ensure equality in the legislative bodies that determine society's rules. I don't know the breakdown of other demographics but from the official Parliament Homepage the number of female MPs is 125 (94 of those being Labour!) out of a total of 646. The tories only have 17 out of their close to 200 and the SNP have no female MPs in their delegation of 7. These statistics are completely unacceptable and I'm glad to see that action is being taken to tackle this non-representation of women in the House of Commons.

To finish off I'd like to echo Anne's Christmas greetings to all reading this, and to the students i hope you enjoy your Christmas break and get lots of revision done.

Anne Begg's Week

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

One of the main pillars of a democratic community is accountability. It's hard to hold elected representatives responsible if you don't know what they've been doing. To enable her constituents to follow the work she does on their behalf Anne Begg the MP for Aberdeen South posts what she has done each week on her website. I'm pleased to say that we are also able to facilitate the democratic process by cross posting that information here.

Week beginning 8th December – Good news for trawlermen.

I wasn't able to be in the Chamber on Monday for the debate on the Speaker's response to the Police search of an MP's Westminster office as I had to attend a funeral in Aberdeen in the morning. Once I managed to make it down to London I arrived 4 minutes too late for the first vote. I would have made it if BA had been able to get my wheelchair to the aircraft side instead of me having to pick it up off the luggage carousel! Nevertheless, missing the debate didn't get me out of taking part in Radio Scotland's 'Scotland at Ten' programme.

Tuesday and Wednesday are always particularly busy days in Westminster with end to end meetings and events, and this week was no different. A range of different organisations want to lobby MPs either individually or in a group. On Tuesday there was the Communication Workers Union, who wanted to lobby on the future of the Royal Mail and Post Office network, the Big Lottery Fund and Equity on Scottish broadcasting to name a few. Unfortunately, however, I ran out of time so didn't get to meet the Olympic rowers at a celebratory reception being held for them.

I also had meetings of All Party Groups which I sit on, these groups meet to advance a particular issue or support a certain cause, industry or country. Tuesday saw the inauguration of a new one, the Chronic Pain group, and I am its new Chairman. I also had a meeting of another group I Chair, the All Party Equalities Group. With an Equalities Bill announced in the Queen's Speech this group will have busy year. However, on Wednesday it was the European dimension we were discussing with our guest Richard Hewitt MEP.

Wednesday saw the highlight of my week, when Tony McNulty, the Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, come in to give evidence before my Select Committee. I only managed to speak once in the Chamber this week, and that was also on Wednesday during Scottish Questions. I asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy MP, about Scotland's future energy needs (you can see my question and the Minister’s reply here).

On Thursday I sat in the Chamber for the statement on Welfare Reform and BERR questions but, unfortunately, I did not get called. This was disappointing as I particularly wanted to congratulate the Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs, Pat McFadden MP, for his decision to rerun the Cod War Trawlermen's Compensation Scheme. While I have over a hundred constituents who have received pay outs from the scheme, there were some who had got very little because they had a break in service through no fault of their own. I have been lobbying the government hard since the Ombudsman ruled this was unfair, so Thursday's news was very welcome indeed.

Friday will be the usual organised chaos with a presentation ceremony for the winners of my annual Christmas card competition in the morning; a meeting with Grampian Society for the Blind; a Christmas carol concert at Hazlehead Primary and then constituent surgeries.



I think it's interesting to note that it seems that even MPs get crap service from airlines. I'd also like express my appreciation of the Labour Government's continual striving for equality, I think the ideal of an equitable society is central to Party and is something we must continue to strive for.

Anne [Begg] supports Minimum Wage change

[Disclaimer]: Aberdeen University and its blog are not connected to Anne Begg MP in an official capacity. The writers of this blog are solely responsible for its contents, and therefore this blog may not reflect the views or positions of Anne Begg MP. For Anne Begg MP's offical website please go to www.annebegg.com.

Last week Laudrup posted an e-mail from Anne Begg the MP for Aberdeen South concerning leafleting today. I managed to crawl out of bed in the early hours (9 a.m.) and somehow made my way down to the meeting point without falling and breaking my neck on the nigh-invisble black ice on the roads. After having spent an hour and a half trying not fall on my arse (Whilst intermittently putting leaflets through people's doors) we made our way back to Anne's house for a very nice lunch which she very kindly put on for us.

During the leafleting I was able to enter into negotiations with a member of her staff about posting local news provided by her Constituency office to this blog. Well to cut a long story short (well actually to cut a short story even shorter) after a brief bidding war between myself and Rupert Murdoch (The BBC dropped out at £50 million) I was able to obtain media broadcast rights (i.e. I'll get an e-mail every Friday.) to what Anne Begg has been doing for her constituents each week. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what's going on in the Aberdeen area and also what a Labour MP does for their constituents.

To finish off, here's a post from Anne Begg's website concerning her stance on the minimum wage change. I think her position is correct, I don't see how it could be justified for an employee to earn less than minimum wage on the grounds that they might make it up in tips.

For those who don't remember the minimum wage was instituted by this Labour government against vociferous opposition from the tories, who opposed this amendment as well.

That's because the tories don't care about ordinary working people, they only care about business men with yearly incomes in six figures.

There's an episode of the Simpsons in which Mr Burns is at a millionaire's club. At the door there's a sign; it reads "you must have at least $1,000,000 to enter". There probably should be a sign at the tories' central office saying the same thing.

On 20th November, Anne welcomed the news that the government intends to change the current minimum wage rules on tipping so that in the future tips will not be used to top up the Minimum Wage. A government consultation started on 19th November to listen to people’s views about exactly how these new proposals would work in practice.

Anne said, "This is a matter of common sense. When you go to a restaurant or to have a hair cut and leave a tip, you expect it to go to the staff on top of their pay, not to be put through the payroll to make up the Minimum Wage.”

“I believe that the government’s announcement will benefit workers throughout Aberdeen South; people we all rely on, but who sometimes don’t have the strongest voice.”

"Rogue employers need to be exposed if they are flouting the system. Therefore, I would encourage anyone that thinks a rogue employer is not paying up to either get in touch with my office on 01224 252 704, or call the national minimum wage helpline on 0845 6000 678.”

As part of the government’s crackdown on those who try to exploit workers, tough new penalties for employers who underpay their staff have been made law under the Employment Act. This will mean that tough new penalties come into force in April, including unlimited fines for the most serious cases rather than the current maximum limit of £5,000. It will also mean a fairer way of dealing with national minimum wage arrears, calculated so workers do not lose out.
It's estimated that 1 million people in the UK currently benefit from the national minimum wage, introduced by the government in 1998. In October this year the minimum wage rates were increased to £5.73 for people aged 22 and over, £4.77 for 18- 21 year olds and £3.53 for 16-17 year olds.