How I Spend My Time

I often find one of the hardest things for people to understand is exactly what MPs do and how they spend their time. As there is no Job Description this is understandable. I must admit some weeks I may have worked 60-70 hours rushing around and wonder where the time went myself. The sheer weight of material and potential matters of interest can quite literally be mind blowing.

I have already written articles about this subject in the past for local newspaper columns and some of this is already on this web site, but I thought it may be useful to give the student of politics or just the hardened cynic some idea about the work of an MP.

First I think it is important to point out that I am fairly typical of most MPs in the hard work I put in. There are still a small number of MPs who maintain their previous careers (usually in the law) as well as being an MP. Personally I can't see how this is possible. I already work about 50-80 hours a week quite often and this is still doing only 1% of what I could possibly fill my week with all year round. Most of my Labour colleagues are the same. They are totally committed to their work and in my mind many of them excessively, to the detriment to their family and health.

Second it is important to put all of this into some sort of perspective. An MP represents a constituency of 70,000 individuals - enough people to fill Twickenham. In a constituency like Loughborough I have 36 schools, a major university, a college, 1200 companies of varying size, over 1000 voluntary, self-help and sports groups, as well as 9 parish councils, 1 Borough council and the County Council. I have to monitor and liaise with the police, fire services, Environment Agency, government departments, the Learning and Skills Council, East Midlands Development Agency, the Regional Office the local NHS Trust as well as the Leicester NHS Trusts. This is just a small taste. On top of this there have been hundreds of ad hoc residents groups set up to tackle issues in the constituency which I have tried to meet and help - like those fighting flooding, housing developments, wanting to open footpaths, tackle anti-social behaviour or improve a local playground for example.

It means that I can be asked to help or intervene in almost any subject in the world. Indeed much of my workload raised by constituents is on international issues. For example people who are members of Amnesty or Oxfam will be urged to raise matters with their MP (I know I am a member of these organisations and often get the instructions on how to lobby my MP!). On top of this various groups and individuals have an interest in all manners of counties around the world, as do I. I have a passion for international development issues and in particular debt relief (see elsewhere on this site on why I came into politics). Just keeping up with this one issue on a regular basis for one country is hard enough, but being up to date with the current situation in Northern Uganda as well as China is a near impossible task when One also has to keep up to date with what is happening in the local council chamber and hospital wards at the same time. I have not travelled much in my time as an MP. I have been offered a number of visits, but pressure of constituency work has made This difficult. I have visited Ethiopia with Oxfam and China with the Bible Society. I know people like to describe any visit by an MP as a Jolly, but these visits could hardly be described as that! Some people ask why it is necessary to visit these countries. I wondered that at the start and made no visits for the first few years. But having now made a visit to Ethiopia I have found the 5 days invaluable in both national politics on the issue of debt relief and world trade lobbying, and also at a local level where I have been able to relate the changes needed in the country to local groups and even recently in my visits to schools. Again I think it is worth noting that constituents raise international questions as much as local ones and an MP has a duty to serve their constituency as whatever level - from the drains to global issues!

So I find trying to divide time most effectively between all of these competing demands one of the hardest parts of the job. Quite rightly each individual with a problem, comment, moan or even praise (I have over 1000 letters of thanks) thinks they are the sole focus at that particular moment. (It is even worse for the PM. he receives at least 10,000 letters a week - and many people write expecting him to personally read their letter and to get a personal reply!!) On a smaller but similar scale I have a similar dichotomy. I do try to treat every letter, email or call as though it was the only one I have at the time - but clearly it is not always possible.

Let me be clear. I am not complaining. In this I recognise there are millions of people who work 60-70-80 hour weeks and often for lower pay. All I am trying to do is point out that it is not quite how they like to portray us in the media. (One political journalist told me his most creative writing was doing his expense account at the end of the month - but journalists don't attack journalists so we never hear about these people staggering out of the Commons drunk at 7pm at night!!)

To put it into some perspective - With 70,000 constituents over a 4 year period of a typical 46 week working year. If I worked the legal 48 hour week I would have 8832 hours available to do all of this work I have outlined below. However, if I did none of this and spent the entire time talking, listening, emailing and writing to constituents (doing no representation or meetings on their behalf) I could offer the following - 7.5 minutes of my time each every 4 years. For me that is quite a sobering thought. I have tried my hardest over the years to break out of the cycle of the regular constituents dominating my time - either at surgeries or writing to me. But the catch 22 is that as I try to encourage more contact I increase the workload making it even more impossible to give quality time to constituents. The above 7.5 minutes is based on the fact that I would never attend the House of Commons or hold a meeting or surgery. Clearly this is the major part of the role and therefore if I were being more realistic if I worked out my timings I could offer about 30 seconds each 4 years if I was being fair to everybody. On the basis that it takes about 15 minutes to read, respond, draft, type, print, proof read, sign post and send a letter (if it is short) you can see how impossible the task is!

So this is how is breaks down in a typical week.

On Monday morning when the House is sitting I would attend a meeting in the constituency or visit a factory or school after having walked my children to school. I would have been up at about 7.30am probably collecting the weekend emails (If I had not dealt with these on Sunday evening). Following this I will travel down to London for the start of the Parliamentary week at 2.30pm with Parliamentary Questions. This is usually followed by the progress of a Bill through the Commons until 10pm at night at which point there will be votes until about 10.30pmish. In between I will have held meetings with other parliamentary colleagues on any one of a variety of committees or All Party Groups. (See in parliament). I will also call into my Commons Office to go through the weekend post - probably a few hundred invitations, briefings, lobbyists and letters from constituents. Nowadays I also seem to spend longer sifting emails for the ones I actually want to see. I get about 200+ a day.

I also usually attend the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 6-7pm where we listen to a cabinet Minister and ask questions of them and others about the business of the week ahead.

By the end of day 1 I will have worked 14-15 hours.

So by the end of the first day I am very lucky if I have found more than a couple of hours to deal with letters, phone call messages and emails. Already I fear I am getting behind.

Tuesday

Business on a Tuesday can start at 8.55am when I am on Standing Committee (scrutinising a Bill). If I am not on a Committee I use the early hours to get some time dealing with constituents letters and emails. This way I ensure I am not too far behind by mid week. My aim is to deal with all of this correspondence within 20 working days. About 90% is dealt with within 48 hours of me seeing it.

Question time takes place at 2.30pm and I usually try and attend and intervene. The business of the House continues until about 10.30pm (but usually later. We usually finish though by 8-9pm now.)

Again the day will have been taken up with All Party Groups, speaking engagements or trying to speak in the main chamber or Westminster Hall debates. If I am on a Committee these meet again at 2pm usually until around 5pm.

Tuesday is often used a good day to hold meetings with outside bodies and with the All Party Groups in parliament. I usually spend the afternoon holding 3-5 such meetings.

Wednesday

I am usually into the Commons by 8.15am on a Wednesday morning - or earlier for the regular communion service. This is usually the busiest day of the week. As it is the middle of the week and Prime Minister's Questions most people organise meetings or lobbies on this day. Recently I had 60 constituents on a visit and 3 separate national lobbies taking place on the same day (as well as my full round of normal meetings). This is not unusual. However, this was during the week that I was taking notes of my pedometer readings. In one day I walked 22,500 steps just inside the Palace of Westminster (about 2 hours of walking). At no stage during this day (and many more like it) did I get near to my office. Again we now normally finish between 7-8pm on a Wednesday. Usually a very full 12 hour day.

Thursday

We start at 10.30 am on a Thursday with formal business. If I am on a Committee this starts at 8.55am. This does mean that If I do not have any meetings I am able to spend an hour or two with staff in London going through the diary and correspondence. It is also by this point that I have to try and catch up a bit with what has been happening in the Loughborough office whilst I have been racing around in Westminster.

Business continues in the afternoon and we finish 'early' on a Thursday at about 6.00pm. I usually stay in the office until 7pm to tidy up the emails/ mail and calls before heading back home. This means if I am lucky I can get home to Quorn by 10pm at night to see my family again.

Friday

I enjoy my Friday time in the constituency. This can be pretty wide and varied but usually means I am visiting people, factories, schools, groups in the morning - lunch with another group and then either fit another visit in for the afternoon or go into the Loughborough office for a debrief and hold a surgery until early evening. There is often a meeting or two on Friday night as well. I do struggle with these as I now have a young family and they will not have seen me since Monday.

Recent visits and meetings have included MPs in schools, farmers, Residents Groups, Learning and Skills Council, local churches, local youth group leaders, filming for TV, charity launches, visiting Rainbows Hospice, meeting with Chief Executives of the NHS, local councils and multi national as well as SME companies. I will also meet the bosses of the building societies, the Chamber of Commerce trade unions and the Vice Chancellor of the University -as well as Heads of Department or local initiatives on campus.

So if I hold a meeting with a residents group for example it would mean the following. Time spent arranging the most convenient time and venue for both of us. usually getting hold of background papers and reading these. If I have enough notice I may have written to the Minister or Council concerned or drafted and asked Parliamentary questions. So quite often an hours meeting will have involved several hours or preparation time. Most meetings last at least 2 hours and often more. The follow up of the meeting may involve the preparation of further correspondence and parliamentary questions and continued dialogue with the group. At any one time I will have about 100 such open dialogues with constituency based groups, companies or organisations. This is on top of the hundred or so open 'casework' cases being dealt with on an individual basis.

Regular Things that are done each week.

On top of the round of meetings, committees, attendance in the Commons there are a number of other activities which happen each week that take up time. For a start I like to keep this web site updated (1-2 hours per week), do press interviews, read parliamentary Bills and briefings, read EDMs tabled and decide which to support (another hour per week. As we have seen I can also spend a few hours each week just walking around from meeting to meeting. Even in the constituency I can spend an hour or two getting from meeting to meeting in Leicestershire on a Friday.

Weekends

One of the things I leaned very quickly about being an MP is that it is difficult ever to be off duty.

I still play rugby most weekends at Birstall RFC during the winter. I have played there for 20 years and see no reason why being elected should make any difference to my normal routine. People cry out for their MPs to live ordinary lives and so I have continued with 90% of what I did before I was elected.

However, there are times at weekends where of course I am required and all too easily the time can disappear. Mostly these events - coffee mornings, fayres, meetings are fun, but it is still time away from family and usually means generating more work!

I am very strict about Sunday. As a Christian I attend church anyway on Sunday and also believe it is a time to be with family. There are a few things that I see it is right to attend - like remembrance Services. But generally I will not do anything that disrupts the ability to spend time with family.

So we are back round to Sunday evening. The children are in bed... and its time to pack the bags and the paperwork and files ready to be off again in the morning.

Finally, I know people think we have long holidays. I used to think the same about teachers until I realised just how much has to be done during this so-called holiday period. In fact for the first few years I think I worked even harder during the recess period. It is very much like a Friday in the constituency - but it happens every day. The only consolation is that the diary commitment in the Commons obviously fall away, but the paperwork, letters and emails still keep pouring in. Because I deal with most myself personally this is a bad time, because I may actually take a few days off. Fatal. Coming back to thousands of emails and a very large pile of constituents letters means I can be behind for days - often taking weeks to catch back up and get back on top. Indeed many of my colleagues get very jealous when I can admit to being within days of ever catching up.

In all of this I am never complaining. I find it immensely satisfying to being an MP who loves his own local constituency and wants to improve things. But the sheer volume of work and the breadth of material and interests both locally and nationally that you have to take up is almost mind blowing. It could be the drains one minute and world peace the next, and that is part of the beauty - the variety.

The other thing that is worth mentioning is that I make a rod for my own back. Unlike many MPs in the past I am not happy just sitting back and waiting for people to contact me (although about 12,000 have done just that!!) but I also like to encourage those who do not normally contact MPs to give me their views. I have done roving surgeries and survey work to promote giving feedback. The survey work alone has generated over 14,000 responses with comments and several hundred letters and emails. Once again just trying to reply to these is impossible. I wish I could physically respond to every point raised - but if you work out 14,000 people (say 1-15 minutes for every letter (draft, type, print, post)) It would take just over a year working 48 hours a week just to reply. Again that is without doing anything else at all. This is not so say I don't like this sort of challenge but just simply I hope that people will appreciate the physical logistical impossibility of some actions now and then. I am sure most people do - but there are many who are ignorant of the facts above (not their fault)

So I hope this has given you a brief taste of how the week breaks down. More details of what we do in some of these meetings can be found elsewhere on this site and things I have said and one are on the parliamentary site.

For example I will meet with Ministers and Cabinet Colleagues or the PM on a regular basis to feed back from matter in the constituency. I will be lobbied by organisations, people, companies about the effect of legislation, or simply the hope that there will be legislation. There are also meetings of MPs who link together on many issues. For example there is a pension problem in Leicestershire so I coordinated a meeting with other County MPs.

Andy Reed