BBC Question Time is in Yeovil this week and I hope that everyone going enjoys the live television experience and a sense of the national stage.

This week I am overseas, in Canada and America, on a factfinding and relationship building trip with the International Trade Select Committee.

Headlines this week have been dominated by Boris Johnson and the NHS in a way that sadly highlights the confused discourse that continues on this most important of issues.

Last week I visited Rome to meet the top management of Leonardo including the CEO, Senor Alessandro Profumo.

Although the start of January always has something of a ‘back to school’ feel about it, it’s an exciting time of year. Whilst many of us have enjoyed a break we are of course all indebted to those working, including in the emergency and other public services, over Christmas and New Year.

My office in the House of Commons is on a somewhat bland but high corridor just off the public rooms of Upper Committee Corridor. Although small, I like it as it is close to the chamber.

Good news from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this week relating to an issue that I know many people have had concerns about. The Government has published a draft Bill about animal welfare which gives explicit recognition of animal sentience in UK law.

The House of Commons is now half way through the current stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill and it does continue to dominate proceedings here, touching on so many different policy areas.

Throughout my time as an MP so far I have always tried to avoid being a part of the ‘Westminster Bubble’.

Yeovil and South Somerset MP Marcus Fysh has welcomed a Budget that scraps Stamp Duty for first time homebuyers amongst a raft of measures to support families in their everyday lives. There is also a commitment to an immediate increase in investment in the NHS.