Beverley Hughes former MP for Stretford & Urmston (Labour) and Children's Minister. She has a degree in Social Science and her MSc research was into the "treatment and experience of schizophrenia". Before entering Parliament in 1997 she worked as a Probation Officer and as a Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester.

Children's Digital Rights

The children's database was launched by the Children's Minister Beverley Hughes, she has since continued to vocally supported it. Most recently she tried to dismiss the FIPR report in the database. See news section.

Identity cards

Supports ID cards. In her role as a minster she has answered a great many questions on ID cards that where raised in parliament.

"By using biometric data, linked to a national database, we can provide a modern, secure means of confirming identity, helping us to crack down on identity fraud, immigration abuse, illegal working and organised crime. We will also be in a much better position to ensure that our free public services are only used by those who are actually entitled to them."

Links

Beverley Hughes MP TheyWorkForYou.com
Beverley Hughes MP Wikipedia
Beverley Hughes MP ePolitix Biography
Voting Record

News

2006-11-25 - The Daily Telegraph, letters - Databases to carry sensitive information on children: Author: FIPR; Summary: Beverley Hughes, the Minister for Children, does a disservice to families by an evasive response to the FIPR report to the Information Commissioner on the range of databases being set up to monitor children. Point by point response to her letter.

2006-11-24 - The Daily Telegraph, letters - Children at risk will be lost in the sea of a national database: Author: Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children; Summary: You do your readers a disservice in your news item "Child database will ruin family privacy" (November 22) by not challenging the findings of the authors of the report [Children's Databases: Safety and Privacy]. Their findings are based largely on personal views rather than firm evidence.

2006-07-17 - Temperama - Child Surveillance (9): Author: Dave Hill; Summary: Aside from her two fob-off letters on the subject, Beverley Hughes has remained totally silent about the concerns the proposed new Index and others are raising. And this is the minister supposed to be taking care of our kids. Isn't that reassuring?

2006-03-01 - The Register - UK parents to get online check of 8m child workers records: Author: John Lettice; Summary: Children's Minister Beverley Hughes (last seen in these parts letting large numbers of fraudulent visa applicants through a huge Home Office security hole) assures us that "parents for the first time will be able to check online when they're employing a nanny or a music teacher [for example]", so we have here a vast widening of both the population that is to be vetted and of those with a right and requirement to access the records. Online, instantly.

2006-01-27 - The Register - UK immigration intros compulsory tags for asylum cases: Author: John Lettice; Summary: The UK Immigration Service is now imposing electronic tagging without the subject's consent in a range of immigration cases, including asylum seekers, overstayers and illegal workers, following a rule change last year. In a Home Office statement issued on November 8 last year, however, Immigration Minister Tony McNulty announced that policy had been changed. Impressively, McNulty's announcement refers to a commitment made when the Act was being debated by then Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes, that tagging would take place "only with the consent of the individual".

2005-12-12 - The Guardian - Child database 'will not prevent tragedies': Author: David Batty; Summary: The children's minister, Beverley Hughes, today warned that the planned electronic database of all 11 million children in England was not a "technological magic wand" that would prevent further child abuse tragedies. ... The minister said anecdotal evidence from 10 local pilots of the database suggested that the system significantly improved the sharing of information and joint working among professionals and agencies involved in child welfare.

2005-12-09 - The Telegrah - Information on every child to be kept in new database: Author: Liz Lightfoot; Summary: The details of every child in England will be held on a new national database to help keep them safe, the Government said yesterday. Beverley Hughes, the children's minister, said the database would have "strong safeguards to make sure information stored is minimal, secure and used appropriately".

2005-12-09 - silicon.com - Government database to ID every child: Author: Dan Ilett; Summary: Children's minister Beverley Hughes is pushing the project for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). In a statement, she said: "All too often children who need additional help are faced with services which are not joined up. We need to ensure that professionals work together across service boundaries for the benefit of children." "Parents and young people will be able to ask to see their data and make amendments. In financial terms the benefits of reducing the time currently used unproductively by practitioners trying to contact each other could equate to around £88m per year."

2005-12-09 - eGov monitor - New children's database announced: Summary: The government announced the project as part of plans to improve the delivery of children’s services and is a key component of the Department for Education and Skills’ (DfES) Every Child Matters programme. The project was launched by the Children's Minister Beverley Hughes will take three years to implement and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2008.

2005-12-08 - The Guardian - [Government unveils new bid to improve child protection]: Author: David Batty; Summary: The children's minister, Beverley Hughes, said the index would allow child welfare staff "to do their jobs more effectively and provide better services". But the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children raised concern that the system.

2003-10-21 - BBC - Minister presses ID cards: Summary: An identity card system is the only way employers are going to be able to tell if a person is entitled to work in the UK, according to Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes.

2003-08-27 - BBC - Passport scheme 'hides ID trial': Summary: Civil rights campaigners have claimed a pilot scheme for a new type of passport is really a trial run for identity cards. ... Beverley Hughes recently confirmed that over 5,000 of 7,000 responses to a government consultation on a national ID card scheme were against the idea.

2003-06-20 - The Register - Public opposes ID cards, govt admits: Author: John Leyden; Summary: The UK government has finally admitted that the majority of responses to consultation on its ID card scheme were strongly opposed to the controversial idea. In responses to a parliamentary question, Home Office minister Beverley Hughes told Anne McIntosh MP over 5,000 of the 7,000 responses to a public consultation on ID cards were opposed to the scheme, the BBC reports. "5,031 emails have been received via the Stand Web site. 4,856 expressed views against an entitlement card scheme, 44 expressed views in favour," she said.

2003-06-19 - BBC - Public oppose ID card scheme: Summary: Most people are opposed to the idea of a national ID card for the UK - according to the government's own consultation exercise. In response to a parliamentary question from Anne McIntosh MP, Home Office minister Beverley Hughes has confirmed that over 5,000 of the 7,000 responses to a public consultation on the issue were against the scheme.

2003-06-05 - The Register - UK ID cards – the incredible shrinking consultation: Author: John Leyden; Summary: ... Home Office ministers however have shown worrying signs of tidying up in odd ways. In April minister Beverley Hughes told the Commons that 2,000 responses had been received, a number which is of the order of the 1,500 Falconer prepared earlier, and which therefore sounds strangely like a consultation in which 6,000 or so online responses have been miraculously disappeared.

2003-05-30 - BBC - ID card 'tricks' anger net users: Author: Mark Ward; Summary: Net activists are pressing the UK Government to explain what has happened to thousands of public responses that expressed doubts about the merits of ID cards. Stand spokesman Danny O'Brien has written an open letter to Beverley Hughes expressing Stand's worries.

2003-05-08 - BBC - ID cards 'promise asylum benefits': Summary: Compulsory identity cards could help prevent failed asylum claims by tackling the problem of people working illegally, a Home Office minister has said. Beverley Hughes was speaking after an influential group of MPs warned that failing to stem dramatic growth in asylum applications could prompt social unrest.

2003-01-15 - BBC - EU begins asylum fingerprinting: Summary: UK Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes, whose country is one of a few already fingerprinting asylum seekers, said the system would help speed up the processing of asylum cases. "This database, in time, will provide us with a valuable resource to tackle multiple asylum applications and deter asylum shopping," Ms Hughes said.

2002-11-20 - BBC - ID card plan: You asked the Home Office minister: Summary: Beverley Hughes public questions and answer session on ID cards.

2002-10-22 - BBC - Internet intelligence plans hit hurdle: Summary: Internet service providers are refusing to sign up to plans for them to store more information about email traffic to help the fight against terrorism. ... Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes said extensive talks were continuing. The plans were "very, very important" for fighting terrorism, Ms Hughes told the World At One. It was not for internet providers to start reopening debates already settled by Parliament, she argued.

2001-12-03 - The Register - Govt launches pedo warning campaign: Author: Tim Richardson; Summary: "Paedophiles are dangerous - not Internet chatrooms," said Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes. "This campaign is not intended to alarm people, but to alert them to the potential dangers that young people may face online and to help them surf in safety." "The risk of a paedophile using Internet chat to contact a child is low - we aim to make it lower."

2001-12-03 - BBC - Net paedophile threat highlighted: Summary: The UK Government has launched a £1.5m advertising campaign to help parents explain the dangers of internet paedophiles to their children. Home Office minister Beverley Hughes unveiled the adverts, to appear in national newspapers and magazines, at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester on Monday.