IT MAY sound odd, but one of the things I enjoy most about my wonderful and very varied and action-packed job are my surgeries. They are an intellectual challenge – a waiting room full of folk with ideas, complaints, whinges, personal problems of every kind. I have no idea what they are going to ask me, nor whether I can help as they come in the door.

On reception is Miss Elizabeth Sexton, who has kept good order for 21 years for me and a further 10 or so for my predecessor. That is a real duty and service to the community.

I hope that having arrived rather nervous and worried, most people go away with a feeling that something will now be done. I dictate a letter or a memo, or action note there and then with the client in the room, both so that they can correct any inaccuracies or misunderstandings, and so that they will know that something will actually happen when the tape gets back to Private Secretary, Amy Swash, on Monday morning.

I do four surgeries a month, two each on alternate Saturday mornings, in Calne, Royal Wootton Bassett, one day, and then Cricklade, Malmesbury and two weeks later. I do an occasional one in Box, and from time to time elsewhere as well.

They are of course absolutely private and confidential, so the following from list of my surgery cases last Saturday has been anonymised. I thought that you might nonetheless find it an interesting insight into an MP’s daily work.

I had 12 cases, about 20 people or so, who took from 10am-3pm to tell me their woes. No 1 had lost £250,000 in a Ponzi scheme. Not sure I can help much. No 2 lost out on a pension because of an obscure piece of small print. Write to chairman of trustees in hope that he will make an exception. No 3 has been refused benefits for her disabled son. Refer her to the Citizens Advice Bureau, who are the real experts. No 4 is suffering from terrible overcrowding in a parent’s home in the aftermath of a divorce. Tragic case. Try to guide them towards the private rented sector. No 5 has an immigration problem. My private secretary Amy Swash will ring the MPs ‘hotline’ to IND, which should at least let us know how far the case has got in the system.

No 6 lost a planning application and appeal. Have to tell her there’s not much more she can do, at least until the next Structure Plan after 2026. No 7 is concerned about parking charges and disgusting litter around a recycling centre. Write to Wiltshire Council for her. No 8 needs an introduction to the Army Technical Training College at Lyneham, which I am happy to supply. No 9 has let an old planning permission expire. I advise her to apply retrospectively. No 10 has a problem with a boiler supplied under a government scheme. Write to the chairman of the company to suggest he might find it politic to get it sorted before I raise it with Ministers. No 11 is being harassed by an ex-husband. I listen carefully to her problems. No 12 is a group of people who have lost their free parking. Write to Baroness Scott on their behalf.

None of those cases are of earth-shattering importance, but they are of huge importance to the people themselves. Having a shoulder to cry on, and perhaps a little bit of dispassionate advice helps, and I would hope to be able to make a difference in perhaps 50 or 60 per cent of the cases. I see about 250/300 cases a year, or 6000 since I became the MP, amounting to 12-15,000 people. Each case may seem insignificant, but I just hope that overall my efforts, and those of my hardworking team, may have made a little difference for the people of North Wiltshire.