Have your say on energy prices

Dame Anne Begg, MP for Aberdeen South, is pleased to support ‘Parliament Talks… Energy‘, a free public event at the Banchory West Church, Banchory, Aberdeenshire on Thursday 24^th May, 6-8pm.

Dame Anne, who is Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, said: “For those with an interest in energy issues, this is an excellent opportunity to come along and to discuss how Parliament contributes to the debate on energy issues and scrutinises Government policy. It also forms part of the important work carried out by Select Committees.”

The House of Commons Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change is running an inquiry into Consumer Engagement with the Energy Market and want to hear people’s views on energy prices, the future of the UK energy industry and other energy issues.

‘Parliament Talks…Energy’  is the latest of a new series of subject-specific events held around the UK, organised by the Houses of Parliament Outreach Service, highlighting Parliament’s role in scrutinising public policy and holding the Government to account.

The event includes:

• a short talk from Sir Robert Smith MP, member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee;
• discussion groups where the audience will be given the opportunity to share their views on energy prices and the future of the UK energy industry;
• a question and answer session where the audience can ask about both energy issues and the work of Parliament.

Find out more about the event at: www.parliament.uk/talks-energy  

To register to attend email: parliamentaryoutreach@parliament.uk or call 020 7219 1650.

Invitation to Contribute to National Poetry Project

Dame Anne Begg MP encourages everyone in Aberdeen South to answer the question “What does representation mean to you in 2012?” for a chance to contribute to REPRESENT, a poem which will be created as part of the Arts in Parliament programme this summer.

REPRESENT is about you and your connection to Parliament. Your response could be about making your voice heard, or about getting others to listen. It might be about how you are represented now or how you would like that to be changed. Or it might be about your identity and how that affects how you are represented in 2012. Whatever it is you’d like to say, you can do it with lyrics, rhyme, prose, or even just a couple of sentences.

“I think REPRESENT offers an exciting opportunity to talk about representation and what it means to get your voice heard. I am delighted that the poem will be shown in the historic setting of Westminster Hall during the Arts in Parliament programme this summer, and I encourage everyone in my constituency to get involved,” said Dame Anne.

Using the responses from across the UK, award-winning poet and performer Inua Ellams will create a single poem which will be shown as a film online and in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament between m 1 – 6 August 2012.

To participate, include your first name, age and city or town you live in, and submit your short contributions via: email to represent@parliament.uk, Twitter using the hashtag #represent2012 or YouTube. Submissions must be received by Monday 25 June 2012.  For full rules and details visit: www.parliament.uk/artsinparliament

REPRESENT is a partnership project between Arts in Parliament, an innovative and unique programme which brings visual art, music, dance and poetry into the iconic setting of the Houses of Parliament in the Olympic year, and the UK’s leading spoken word organisation, Apples & Snakes.

Women in Work

In the spring issue of Working Brief e-magazine, Dame Anne Begg MP and others look at the question “Is there a role for positive action in addressing gender representation?”

Dame Anne argues why positive discrimination is important to provide a level playing field by smoothing out the inequalities inherent in the workplace.

You can read her response by following this link http://stats.cesi.org.uk/WBejournal/WorkingBrief227spring2012.pdf and scrolling down to page 15.

Raising Awareness of Type 1 Diabetes

Dame Anne Begg MP met with two school pupils from Aberdeen South, Lucy Logan and Sophie Lawson, ahead of their visit to Westminster to lobby MPs for increased investment in medical research to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes.

Unfortunately, Dame Anne will not be able to meet them in Westminster as she is still in hospital so Lucy and Sophie took the opportunity to lobby Anne in hospital. They presented to her scrapbooks detailing their experiences of type 1 diabetes and explained to Anne how they manage their conditions.

Dame Anne said: “The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) have organised the Type 1 Parliament visit to raise awareness about how difficult life can be for young people with type 1 diabetes. In meeting Lucy and Sophie, it’s remarkable to learn how complex it is to manage the condition but it also remarkable to hear how they do handle it. They are both extremely knowledgeable about type 1 diabetes and the steps they have to take to stay healthy.”

Lucy who is aged 11 and attends Mile End Primary School explained to Anne the importance of increasing Government investment in the research of type 1 diabetes. She said: “I would like to see a cure because there are some jobs that people with diabetes cannot do. For example, people with type 1 diabetes cannot be pilots or air stewards.”

Lucy has an insulin pump to manage her condition which prevents overdoses of insulin. However, Sophie does not have one. She said: “Pumps are important for those sufferers who can’t control their condition with injections. We know that the NHS have pumps but they need money to train staff on how to work them.”

Sophie also said: “I would like to see a cure. I want to get my childhood back and be able to do what my friends can do.”

Supporting World Water Day

This year I will be marking World Water Day by putting my support behind international charity WaterAid’s Water Works campaign.

Living in Aberdeen South a ready supply of safe water is a necessity that we are lucky enough to take for granted. Preventable diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation are the biggest killer of children in Africa, and illness and hours spent collecting water from distant sources keep children out of school and prevent adults from earning a living. Safe water and sanitation transform lives, improve health and lifts communities out of poverty.

Earlier this month we learnt that the world has met a really important target in the fight to improve water access – the UN’s Millennium Development Goal on Water. This is welcome news, showing that aid is working and that we are making steps toward eradicating poverty.

However, there is still a long way to go to ensure that everyone has access to safe water. 783 million people are still without even basic water services and progress towards the UN’s target for proper sanitation is far too slow – it will currently take around 350 years for everyone in Africa to have access to adequate sanitation. Not having these essential services traps people in a cycle of poverty, so we in the UK and other countries need to concentrate our efforts on bringing water and sanitation to all.

This World Water Day, I am proud to support international charity WaterAid’s campaign, Water Works. Campaigns like this one really do save lives and that’s why I have been supporting this cost for the past twenty years. Therefore, I want to highlight the life changing impact of safe water and sanitation ahead of the vital High Level Meeting on water and sanitation that is happening in Washington DC next month. The UK Government is critical to the success of this meeting and our Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, plans to attend.

You too can put your support towards this campaign at www.wateraid.org/waterworks.

Budget 2012: MP Attacks Increase in Air Passenger Duty

Today Aberdeen South MP, Dame Anne Begg, condemned the Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to go ahead with the planned increase to Air Passenger Duty (APD) despite calls last week from Scotland’s airports to rethink the planned hike and give them the chance to compete against European rivals.

The managing directors of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports – which collectively handle more than 19 million passengers – have warned that Scotland and the UK are losing out to Europe because of spiralling APD levels, now the highest in the world.

Dame Anne said, “I am disappointed that the Chancellor has ignored calls to rethink the increase in APD despite warnings that the hike could cost Scotland’s airports around 1.2million passengers over three years, losing the country £77million in tourism revenue.”

MP tells Government ‘Don’t Drop the Tax Credits Bombshell’

Dame Anne Begg, MP for Aberdeen South is backing shopworkers union Usdaw and national charities campaigning against the £3,870 ‘Tax Credits Bombshell’ that the Government is set to drop on 6 April. In just a few weeks’ time, couples with children who currently work between 16 and 24 hours a week will have to increase their hours of work to 24 hours a week, or face losing a staggering £3,870 in tax credits. 

Dame Anne said, “The Government doesn’t seem to realise that extra hours of work, or alternative jobs are just not available for most people at the moment because unemployment is so high and many employers are having to cut costs.

“Yet the Government plan to punish families on low incomes who can’t find extra hours of work by taking nearly £4,000 from them in just a few weeks’ time.  This is an enormous amount for anyone to lose, and will mean families losing their homes, struggling to afford even food and fuel costs.”

John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary thanks Dame Anne for her support, saying, “Nationally, over 200,000 couples with 470,000 children will be affected by these changes to tax credit rules, meaning nearly half a million more children could end up in poverty in April because of the actions of this Government.

“When Universal Credit is introduced in 18 months’ time, there will be no rules for minimum hours of work.  So these families are being forced into hardship for 18 months in a way that will bring no long-term benefit to the taxpayer.”

If you are concerned that you may be affected by the changes:

1.  Find out if you are affected – ring the tax credits helpline on 0845 300 3900

2.  If you need to find extra work, ask your employer or at the Job Centre.

3.  Make sure you are getting the support you are entitled to.  See the online Benefits Advisor on the Direct Gov website to check: www.direct.gov.uk

4.  Let me know how these changes to tax credits will affect you and your family – please email me at anne.begg.mp@parliament.uk.