There was welcome news for Wiltshire in the latest official jobs figures, released last week.

Locally, the number of Jobseekers in the Chippenham constituency fell by 118 in September – the biggest one-month drop so far, taking the number of Jobseekers to the lowest level since 2008.

There is still a long way to go, but it is good to see local residents benefitting from the recent improvements seen in the health of the economy.

Nationally, there are now one million more people in work than in 2010. Businesses have created 1.2million jobs under the Coalition, and now my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I are working to help them create a million more, to build a stronger economy in a fairer society.

We want to enable everyone to get on in life, and believe every child deserves the best possible start at primary school.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats have introduced the Pupil Premium: £900 of extra support for the most disadvantaged children. And it’s why we are also planning to introduce free school meals for all infants from next September.

I visited Christ Church School in Bradford on Avon on Friday and learnt how they are using the Pupil Premium to provide a child and family support worker; and St Mary’s School in Broughton Gifford to discuss the challenges of extending to children at village primary schools the offer of free hot, healthy lunches.

On Thursday, I welcomed the Duke of Kent to the M+W Group’s expanded offices in Chippenham, where he presented them with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade. It was great to hear of their success in exporting their services, and I hope that the next generation of advanced industrial production here in the UK will benefit from their talents as well.

At the weekend, I popped into the enormous ‘Nearly-New Sale’ held by Chippenham NCT to speak with the mums and dads who, as volunteers, help to raise money for the NCT and make new parents’ lives that little bit less expensive.

I should plan to arrive early for their next one in the spring.

After a very busy constituency surgery at my Chippenham office on Saturday, my next surgeries are at Bradford on Avon Library today (Friday) at the slightly earlier than advertised time of 3-4.30pm; at The Pound Arts centre in Corsham on Friday, November 1 (2-3.30pm ) and at Melksham Town Hall on Saturday, November 2 (10-11.30am).