This week has been dominated by debates on the Budget, which finally culminated in a series of votes late on Tuesday night.

I was able to speak during the debates as well as in the media and said that given the limited financial choices available, the Chancellor had delivered a good budget for business – a view shared by the local business associations whom I spoke to this week.

Fuel prices which were also targeted have started to move down locally (at least at the garages I used this week in Marlborough and Upavon) but if you do see any that are not passing on the decrease then please let me know.

It’s also worth noting that the Budget also cancelled an inherited 5p rise in petrol duty that would have happened this week so we are all a little better off as a result.

Other additional major benefits that received almost no coverage last week were the substantial changes to gift aid and inheritance taxes to promote charitable giving.

Taken together, these measures could be worth more than half a billion pounds to the charitable sector in the country, which will be a major financial boost for these wonderful organisations.

There were other matters under debate this week and I raised questions with Ministers on the value of the new Green investment bank as well as the proposed changes to benefit payments to create Universal Credits – I want to be sure that access to help with child care costs is maintained under the new system.

On Thursday I popped out of the Chamber to welcome Wessex Cadets and Reserves who were visiting the House of Commons and I was also very pleased to see members of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust up in Westminster this week.

It was a great relief to catch up on local news and avoid talking about financial matters for an hour or so.

I kicked off Friday with a surgery in Devizes followed by lunch at the expanding Wiltshire College campus in Trowbridge where we discussed local training, education and apprenticeships.

This was followed by visits to a local small business and St Mary’s school in Marlborough and a wonderful hike on Saturday with fellow walking enthusiasts along part of the Plain and Avon trail.

I returned to the political melee on Sunday night with a debate against Ed Milliband’s chief aide on R5 Live’s Pienaar on Politics show, which is always a lively affair.

As always, if I can help you with anything then please call my office on (01672) 519198 or email me on claire.perry.mp@parliament.uk