As Parliament prepares to rise for the summer recess, giving MPs not just a much needed break from the Westminster bubble but also time to concentrate on their constituencies and families, it seems a good time to look back at the past few months of activity in Parliament and in Stratford. In June I was delighted to be appointed to my first Bill Committee, and asked by the government to scrutinise a flagship piece of Coalition legislation, the Energy Bill. A major focus of the Bill is to enable the Green Deal, a way for households to finance energy efficiency measures through savings in their future energy bills. It is an extremely innovative approach to a significant problem, namely how do you convince members of the public to pay up front for something positive for the environment but that will take some years to see financial benefits? Although on many Committees the debate between the government and opposition can be understandably strong, I’m delighted to say that on this Bill we were in the main in agreement. There was a real consensus that this was the right approach for the country to take, and that helping people save money on their energy bills whilst reducing our national carbon footprint was something that the government should be doing. The Committee’s report on amendments and the line by line scrutiny of the bill will now go back to the House of Commons before the Bill has it’s third reading. It was a real privilege to have such an insider role in delivering such an important piece of legislation, especially as it is one which will have a real impact not just on local people but on people across the country. In February, Ian Duncan Smith first introduced the Welfare Reform Bill, and in May and June it worked through the Committee stage and received it’s third reading. The bill is one of our major reforms and tackles the fact that for too long the welfare system has failed to support those that want to get ahead. Instead of supporting people back to work, the previous government allowed one and a half million people to spend the last decade on out-of-work benefits. The Welfare Reform Bill will ensure that work always pays, simplify the system with a single Universal Credit, introduce the Work Programme to support those that need help getting back into work and introduce a benefit cap so out of work recipients can’t receive more than the average UK salary. The Universal Credit and Work Programme will be a ground-breaking approach, and there is no one better to design, and implement the new system than Ian Duncan Smith. A great colleague, who has made it his life’s work since leaving the Leadership of the Conservative Party to solve the issues of welfare dependency and social breakdown. Last month I also joined 13 colleagues in writing to the editor of the Financial Times, urging the government to re-think it’s approach to the Euro-zone crisis. The Euro-zone crisis has the worrying potential to affect us all, but at the same time offers a significant opportunity for the government to shape the EU order. We were delighted when the Prime Minister took our advice and the next day resisted calls for the UK to provide any further funds to a Euro-zone bailout. Away from Westminster I have continued to visit local businesses and organisations as well as meeting with constituents at surgeries and dealing with their issues via email, phone and letter. Some of my favourite places to visit are always our excellent schools, and I’m particularly happy that so many are choosing to convert to Academies to take control of their own destinies and break free of bureaucracy. Alcester Grammar was one of the first schools in the area to successfully convert, and hopes to be able to take advantage of Academy status and the government’s proposed changes to the admissions code to expand it’s selective intake. This is something I wholeheartedly support, and am currently lobbying the Secretary of State to ensure that this happens. The end of June also saw Armed Forces Day on which I was privileged to attend and address the Armed Forces Day Commemoration in Stratford. It is vital that we commemorate and support our armed forces. Every day they put themselves in harms way for us, whether they are defending civilians in Libya or defending national security in Afghanistan. Their actions now, and their actions and fallen colleagues of the past must be remembered and commemorated which is why Armed Forces Day is so important. Finally the last week has been dominated in Westminster by the phone hacking scandal. We have seen accusations of widespread law-breaking by parts of our press, alleged corruption by some police officers and a failure of our political system over many, many years to tackle a problem that's been getting worse. I fully support the Prime Minister in his handling of this issue, and am sure that the enquiries announced by him and the Home Secretary will get to the bottom of what has gone wrong. As I write this we have just learnt that Parliament is to be recalled on Wednesday to debate the issue again. Whilst it is undoubtably very important for the Prime Minister to make a statement, and important for our democracy that it be debated, I am slightly concerned that at a time when we have a Euro-zone and American debt crisis, both of which threaten to spill over and engulf us here at home, that the Westminster Bubble is focusing too much attention on this alone. Frustratingly the recall has also meant that my planned day of constituency meetings has had to be re-arranged. Fortunately everyone I have spoken to has appreciated the urgency of this and been understanding of the late notice, something for which I am very grateful.