It’s hard to believe that it’s now been seven months since I was elected to represent Southampton Itchen – and it’s certainly been a busy and rewarding time. I’ve spoken up in Parliament about local constituency issues more than 30 times, dealt with more than 1,000 bits of casework, held ten in person surgeries and much more besides.

Amidst all this, the opportunity to be part of a small group of MPs scrutinising legislation is one of the biggest privileges – and responsibilities – as it’s where the careful, detailed work of law-making happens. While media headlines tends to focus on the drama and theatre of Parliamentary votes, the hard graft of MPs happens away from the chamber and in smaller committee settings.

These are a world away from the Punch-and-Judy version of politics you might see on evening news bulletins. So much of my time over the last month has been working together with colleagues from different parties – mostly harmoniously – to go line-by-line through the government’s landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

As a committee, we’ve spent lots of time hearing evidence from experts to help make sure the bill will achieve its aims. Closer to home, I’ve made sure that the voices and experiences of people from across Southampton Itchen feed into these debates by meeting with school leaders, education staff and others. I was also pleased to meet with more than two dozen parents and carers from the home education community to get their views. When I said I would listen to constituents, even where we might disagree, I meant it – and never has this been more important than in this significant role as a lawmaker.

Away from Westminster, I’ve continued to fight hard for leaseholders across my constituency who have suffered for far too long with a range of issues. I’m crystal clear that developers and managing agents must get their act together and I recently met with two who have featured heavily in emails from constituents – Barratt Redrow and FirstPort - to urge them to move more quickly to improve matters for long-suffering residents. Fire safety and unsafe cladding continue to be a particular concern to many residents and I was pleased to be able to raise this directly with Prime Minster Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Finally, regular readers of this column will know how important it is to me that I’m an accessible Member of Parliament and find different opportunities to meet with you all. In this spirit, I’m excited to launch my series of community coffee mornings where you can meet me and other organisations for informal discussions on a range of topics. The first of these will be on Saturday 8 March and will focus on crime and antisocial behaviour as many of you have contacted me about this issue. Full details are on my website and I look forward to seeing some Echo readers there.

As ever, I’m keen to hear from constituents if I can help with anything. Do get in touch at darren.paffey.mp@parliament.uk.