Diary

A week in Sarah's life

For many people the only glimpse they have of an MP's life is the weekly TV broadcast of Prime Minister's Questions or the Parliament Channel late at night when the green benches are half empty. Most of Parliament's work in fact goes on outside the main chamber in committee rooms and MPs' offices and is not visible to the general public. As Sarah is a Minister in the Department of Children, Schools and Families she also works in the the Department's offices in Great Smith Street in Westminster. At weekends of course, MPs are working back in their constituencies.

To illustrate Sarah's working week she has posted her diary for last week 11th-17th May. Although there is no such thing as a typical week, this shows the varied nature of an MP's work and the extra responsibilities of being a minister. Every evening officials will fill the Ministerial Red Box with all the papers that there haven't been time to look at during the day and minister have to work on these when they get home at night - a bit like homework!

Monday 11 May
09.30	Meeting with Job Centre Plus Manager in Portsmouth	Portsmouth
11.00	Visit to Northern Parade Pre School	Portsmouth
13.00	Train to London
16.00	Meeting re Personalisation	DCSF
17.00	Meeting with speech writer	DCSF
17.45	Travel to House of Commons
18.00	Meeting with Parliamentary Labour Party	House of Commons
19.00	Travel to WC2
19.30	Working dinner with Association of School & College Lecturers	WC2
21.00	Travel to House of Commons
22.00	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
22.30	Travel to flat
22.45	Working on "Red Box" submissions and constituency correspondence

Tuesday 12 May
07.50	Travel to Department	DCSF
08.30	Opening Speech to Construction Companies Workshop	DCSF
10.15	Pre - Meeting re Apprenticehips in Schools with officials	DCSF
11.00	Meeting with MP re left handed provision in schools	DCSF
12.00	Meeting with London MPs re primary school places	DCSF
12.45	Meeting with Secretary of State re Apprenticeships	DCSF
13.30	Telephone interview with Times Educational Supplement re diplomas	DCSF
14.30	Meeting re progress on "Narrowing the Gap"	DCSF
15.30	Interview with Kurdish journalist and representatives from Kurdish community	DCSF
16.00	Travel to House of Commons
17.00	Meeting with Secretary of State	House of Commons
17.30	Briefing on Official Statistics Publication re disabled children	House of Commons
18.30	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
19.00	Meeting with MP and Sec of State re enterprise education	House of Commons
19.30	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
21.50	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
22.30	Working on "Red Box" submissions and constituency correspondence	House of Commons
12.30 am	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
01.15 am	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
01.30 am	Travel to flat	House of Commons

Wednesday 13 May
08.45	Travel to Department
09.00	Meeting with Entrepreneurs in Action	DCSF
10.00	Ministers Round Table with Secretary of State	DCSF
11.45	Travel to House of Commons
12.00	Prime Ministers Questions	House of Commons
13.10	Meeting with Prime Minister and Asbestos Campaigners	House of Commons
14.30	Committee Stage of the Autism Bill	House of Commons
14.35	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
14.50	Resumption of Committee Stage of the Autism Bill	House of Commons
17.05	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
17.30	Briefing re SEN & Disability Private Members Bill	House of Commons
18.00	Meeting with DIUS minister re Apptrenticeships	House of Commons
19.18	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
21.05	Votes in House of Commons	House of Commons
21.30	Travel to flat
22.00	Working on "Red Box" submissions and constituency correspondence

Thursday 14 May
08.00	Working from London flat on constituency correspondence and emails
09.50	Travel to Dept
11.30	Conference Call re SEN & Disability Private Members Bill	DCSF
13.15	Curriculum and Qualifications Ministerial Meeting	DCSF
14.30	Meeting re London Challenge	DCSF
15.00	Meeting re Special Educational Needs	DCSF
16.45	Travel to House of Lords
17.00	Meeting with Lords re Apprentices, Skills, Children & Learning Bill	House of Lords
18.00	Travel to Newham
19.00	Annual Meeting Newham Borough Council	Newham
21.30	Travel to flat
22.30	Working on "Red Box" submissions and constituency correspondence

Friday 15 May
08.00	Travel to Dept
08.10	Last Minute Briefing re SEN & Disability Private Members Bill	House of Commons
09.00	Travel to House of Commons	House of Commons
09.30	Debate on 2nd reading of SEN & Disability Private Members Bill	House of Commons
14.00	Working in House of Commons Office on constituency matters	House of Commons
15.30	Train to Portsmouth
18.00	Working on "Red Box" submissions and constituency correspondence
20.00	Local Labour Party Fish and Chip Supper Fundraiser with Portsmouth Labour Party Members	Portsmouth

Saturday 16 May
09.00	"Red Box" arrives from London
11.00	Advice Centre (meeting constituents and helping them with local problems)	Portsmouth

Sunday 17 May
11.00	Annual Civic Service - Portsmouth Cathedral	Portsmouth
14.00	Bengali New Year Celebrations	Portsmouth
18.00	Working on "Red Box" submissions and constituency correspondence	Portsmouth