As part of our campaign to help businesses create a million more jobs, my Liberal Democrat colleag-ues and I aim to double the number of employers that offer apprenticeships, and I am encouraging as many businesses as possible around Wiltshire to offer them. In the Chippenham constituency, we have already seen the number of apprenticeships offered each year rise by nearly two-thirds since 2010.

Last week I attended the Wiltshire Assembly conference on education, training and work. I spoke to representatives of the National Apprenticeship Service and Wiltshire Enterprise – the apprenticeship service at Wiltshire College. Wiltshire Council has been working with them to persuade employers to establish 1,000 new apprenticeships in Wiltshire, and I was very pleased to hear that they are very close to achieving their target.

At the Leigh Park Hotel I spoke to Bradford on Avon Rotary Club. I talked to them about my work as an MP, describing how I endeavour to tell the stories of my constituents to people in power in Parliament.

It was story telling of a more conventional kind, when I read to children at Bradford on Avon Library, promoting this year’s summer reading challenge, which is always popular in Wiltshire’s libraries.

On Thursday, I learnt about Cherish Chippenham’s plans for a Business Improvement District at the Chamber of Commerce business breakfast – I’ll be backing the BID.

Then to Devizes where I met with the chairman of Wiltshire’s Clinical Comm-issioning Group to discuss the work they are doing now that the dust has settled on the recent NHS reorganisation. I suggested that they could improve community mental health services by funding services from the voluntary sector, such as Wiltshire Mind’s support groups and counselling. They also reassured me that, despite current difficulties, they have no plans to remove maternity services from Trowbridge.

The safe arrival of Prince George of Cambridge was welcome news. I hope that after all of the blow-by-blow reporting of his birth, the media will now give the family some space to cherish their son’s early years.

Sadly, for a second time this month, I stopped to join my family for a funeral. On this occasion, Patrick Swinson was just 17 years old.

After a constituency surgery at my Chippenham office last Thursday, my next are at Bradford on Avon library on Monday, August 5 from 11am-12.30pm and at Melksham Town Hall on Thursday, August 8 between 10-11.30am.