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Representing South Derbyshire
My first priority is to ensure that the interests of South Derbyshire's people, organisations and businesses are effectively represented in Parliament. I split my time roughly like this: I spend
Friday through to Monday morning in the constituency and Monday afternoon - Thursday at Westminster.
My time in South Derbyshire is spent mainly meeting and listening to local people. At advice surgeries I hear first hand the views, concerns and problems of local people
and at my meetings with local public service providers, organisations and businesses I see the impact of government policy locally. These meetings also allow me to try and resolve some of the local
problems that constituents have raised.
My constituency team deals with about 2,000 individual concerns and issues every year.
Once gathered, local knowledge informs much of my Parliamentary activity: the majority of my questions, speech contributions, meetings with ministers and adjournment
debates seek answers to, or action on, concerns that I have picked up locally.
As a Parliamentarian
MPs also have other duties to perform within Parliament. Between 1997 and 2002 I sat on the Agriculture Select Committee and its successor Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Select
Committee. I was often able to draw on the experiences of South Derbyshire's many rural communities.
I left the Select Committee in late 2002 to become the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Baroness Symons, the Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Middle
East. I decided not to continue in this role after the May 2005 election and was then chosen to join the Treasury Select Committee.
I regularly ask questions in parliament and contribute to debates. During 2005/6, for example, I raised 125 parliamentary questions.
After topping the annual ballot for Private Members' Bills in November 2002, I successfully piloted my own piece of legislation - The Co-operatives and Community Benefit
Societies Bill - through Parliament. This became an Act of Parliament after receiving Royal Assent on July 10th 2003.
View appearances in parliament at www.theyworkforyou.com
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My work