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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 08 Jan 2015
Oral Answers to Questions

"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

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Written Question
Carers
Wednesday 16th July 2014

Asked by: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that children kinship carers are caring for are considered as children in need and prioritised accordingly.

Answered by Edward Timpson

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.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 02 Feb 2012
Oral Answers to Questions

"On Friday I attended the opening of a micro-business in my constituency, Little Rembrandt’s Café in Ferryhill. That business opened despite the Government and despite the banks, which refused to lend. The owner had to put her own financial security on the line by remortgaging her house. That situation obviously …..."
Anne Begg - View Speech

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 27 Oct 2011
Oral Answers to Questions

"My understanding is that the Court’s judgment does not stop research into embryonic stem cells, but that it does mean that scientists will not be able to patent anything worth while, and that therefore the intellectual property is likely to go abroad, as my hon. Friend the Member for Blackley …..."
Anne Begg - View Speech

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 31 Mar 2011
Oral Answers to Questions

"What guarantees can the Government give for those companies that report their profitability transparently that, at the next Budget, the Treasury will not come along and, completely out of the blue, wallop them with a great windfall tax, as it just has with the offshore oil and gas industry?..."
Anne Begg - View Speech

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 20 Dec 2010
Oral Answers to Questions

"Of course a child who is off school ill may not necessarily be in hospital, so their education has to take account of that. Will the hon. Lady have a word with her colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions about this? The way that the benefit system works, …..."
Anne Begg - View Speech

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 18 Nov 2010
Oral Answers to Questions

"The Government are setting great store by providing more apprenticeships to replace the work that used to be done under the future jobs fund. What discussions is the Minister having with employers to make sure that sufficient apprenticeship places are available so that these youngsters can take up the offers …..."
Anne Begg - View Speech

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 14 Oct 2010
Oral Answers to Questions

"A lot of the businesses in my constituency are involved in the offshore oil and gas sector, which is a global business that depends on the movement of labour so that it can move its work force around the world. That business is seriously concerned about the cap on immigration, …..."
Anne Begg - View Speech

View all Anne Begg (Lab - Aberdeen South) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions