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Much of the work of a Member of Parliament is carried out away from the spotlight of the chamber of the House of Commons. This is of course true of the copious correspondence with, and on behalf of, constituents, the approaches to Ministers on any number of subjects and the large amount of meetings that have to be attended.

But there are other things too.

For many months now, I have been sitting on a committee set up to advise the Home Office on whether, and in what circumstances, evidence obtained by intercepting telephone communications shall be admissible in criminal trials.

It is not an easy issue to resolve. Total disclosure would be undesirable since it would involve disclosure of the some of the sensitive techniques of which terrorists and other serious criminals may currently be unaware.

So the task currently being worked on by officials, which the committee are supervising, is to see whether a partial disclosure regime can be devised which would be consistent with the requirements of a fair trial and of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The outcome is far from clear and on Monday we were due to see the Home Secretary to give him our advice.

Coincidentally, Monday also saw the first public session of another committee looking into the arrest of my parliamentary neighbour, Damian Green, and the implications of that whole affair for the future of parliamentary privilege.

When Mr Green’s office was searched most if not all of the papers which were taken had a direct bearing on his parliamentary work, including his ability to represent his constituents. The same applied to the material stored on his computers. All this was done without a warrant and there is a general desire to clarify the procedure which needs to be followed on any similar future occasions, should they arise.

Many of the sessions of this committee will be in public. I hope they attract some attention since the issues we will be considering affect the rights which all of you have to communicate with your Member of Parliament in confidence and to have him investigate your concern without fear or favour.

Both before and after the arrest of Damian Green, many things went wrong. It is vital that similar mistakes are not made again. I hope the work of our committee helps to make sure that they can be avoided.