The new year in Westminster has had a busy start. The first day of the Parliamentary term involved a long discussion on the NHS. I know this is important to many people in Chelmsford. Locally there is additional funding and investment going into the health service, but there is also an increasing level of demand.

Funding for the NHS partnership for Mid and South Essex is expected to rise by £331.7 million, which will be a cash increase of 19% over five years.

The NHS is performing more operations than ever before. Last year the NHS locally carried out 72,235 operations an increase of 9,035 since 2010.

Furthermore, there are now 121 more hospital doctors and 191 more nurses in our Mid Essex Hospitals than in 2010.

I am also keeping a close eye on the situation at Carillion. The company provides much of the maintenance work at Chelmsford Prison.

I was pleased to hear the Government is prioritising keeping frontline services running as well as caring for employees, pensioners, apprentices and sub-contractors. But it’s important to note that this type of contract isn’t new - 85% of our current PFI contracts were awarded under the last Labour Government.

Last Thursday, when the Transport Minister came to take questions from MPs, I asked him about the Delay Repay service on the Great Eastern Mainline. My own train was delayed that morning and I nearly missed the meeting.

Lots of constituents have written to me asking if more can be done to compensate them when trains are cancelled or are simply too full for more passengers.

The minister told us that Delay Repay compensation has doubled in the past year for Greater Anglia passengers, so the system is clearly working better. This is a good start but there is more we can do.

Making sure we have infrastructure fit for the future is just as important.

Later this week I will be holding a rail summit in Chelmsford with the Department of Transport, Network Rail, Greater Anglia, Essex County Council and Chelmsford City Council to discuss updated proposals for Beaulieu Park Station and a Chelmsford North East Bypass. I will let you know how I get on.