"I am glad the Minister will finally make his way to Aberdeen, and while he is there I hope he will have discussions with all aspects of the industry and the trade unions. I have two asks of him when he is in Aberdeen. One is to talk about what …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"One of the conclusions that my hon. Friend and I reached as part of the Select Committee on Work and Pensions inquiry was that the work-related activity group was too wide and trying to do two contradictory things: to give support to people who are not fit for work without …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"The WFHRA, as it came to be known, was actually suspended before any existing incapacity benefit claimants had even been migrated on to ESA. It was that group in particular that would have benefited from some kind of assessment of their current and future barriers to work...." Anne Begg - View Speech
"There will be people in the support group who are or can be in work. The ability to work is not the correct definition for who should be in the support group and who should be in the WRAG group...." Anne Begg - View Speech
"Although the Government cannot control the world oil price, they can do things such as drive down the costs in the industry. If the oil price remains low and perhaps drops further to the level where it costs more to take the oil out of the North sea, that is …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"If 50% of the money spent by the Scottish Parliament will be funded by the Scottish Parliament, is it about time that an independent body, like the Office for Budget Responsibility, is set up in Scotland to ensure that spending is scrutinised properly? Is the Minister aware of whether the …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"I have to declare an interest as someone with a rare condition. Although I live in Scotland, I benefit from a specialised service delivered by NHS England in Cambridge. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the importance of specialised services means that they should be managed nationally so that they …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"A number of rare diseases are genetic and, therefore, they often come in pockets, which means that some local health commissioners may face a heavy burden while others face none. The beauty of the specialist commissioning is that the cost is spread across the whole country, rather than falling on …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"In fact, I was recently online to renew my European health card. I discovered that most of the top Google search results were sites that made people pay, but a lot of consumers do not realise that they can get the card free. There is an urgent need for the …..." Anne Begg - View Speech
"I am delighted that we have the opportunity for this debate. I would actually have preferred another debate, though; on 2 April, the Select Committee on Work and Pensions published a report entitled “Support for housing costs in the reformed welfare system”. As yet, however, we have not had the …..." Anne Begg - View Speech