Chris Grayling

Chris has been MP for Epsom and Ewell since June 2001. Here he explains what a local MP actually does.

There are really four parts to my job - taking part in debates at Westminster, working in Committees, dealing with problems and issues for constituents, and visiting and keeping in touch with as many local people, organisations and other groups as I can.

My biggest area of activity at Westminster is now Work and Pensions, because of my role as Shadow Secretary of State for the Department. This means I am working on policy ideas for the Conservative Party on benefits and pensions matters, and lead the opposition in our efforts to hold Peter Hain, the Secretary of State, to account for the government's handling of these issues. It is a huge department - about 40 per cent of all government expenditure is through the Department for Work and Pensions. Until July 2007, I was Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

Any shadow Cabinet role involves management of a team of several shadow ministers, and I make shadow ministerial visits all over the country to meet people directly affected by the work of the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as staff working for the department and its various agencies.

When people see pictures of the House of Commons chamber with relatively few people in it, they often don't realise that a large part of the work at Westminster takes place behind the scenes in Committees. For eighteen months when I was a new MP at Westminster, I was a member of the Transport, Local Government and the Regions Select Committee and on a series of Committees investigating new laws. As shadow health and higher education spokesman in the last Parliament I spent a great deal of time on committee talking about the details of different pieces of legislation proposed by the Government.

I think the most important part of my work, though, is dealing with issues and problems on behalf of constituents. Every day my small team and I receive a large bundle of letters, often with quite complex problems to try to deal with. I also see constituents at my regular surgeries or at other meetings around the area. Sometimes I can't do as much as I would wish as MP to help - but we do what we can.

An individual MP does not have much power to demand that something is changed on behalf of a constituent, but I do have the ability to get access to the right people and try to get the problem solved. I also get involved in broader campaigns on behalf of the constituency - for example fighting for a better deal for our police force, or to protect Epsom Hospital.

Lastly, I spend much of my time when the House of Commons is not sitting visiting local groups and organisations. I have now visited almost all the local schools and hope to have visited all of them soon. I also speak to local voluntary organisations, and businesses on a regular basis. And there are regular update meetings with local public services - like the health service or the police - to keep me in touch with what's happening locally.