In this week's MP column, David Williams, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, answers "where are all the MPs?"

Switch on Parliament during the day and you'll often see rows of empty green benches. It's one of the most common complaints on social media: "where are all the MPs?"

Two years on from the general election, I thought it was worth answering that question properly and explaining what the job actually involves.

Let's start with the obvious point: people are right to expect their MP to turn up and do the work. I've never believed elected office comes with built-in excuses.

But the chamber is only one part of Parliament, in the same way the council chamber is only one part of what a councillor does.

While one debate happens in the chamber, other MPs are sitting on select committees questioning ministers and officials, meeting charities and businesses, working through constituency casework, or preparing for the next vote. Westminster runs on several tracks at once, but the cameras only show you one of them.

For me, representing Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove means constantly moving between two jobs that are really one.

There's Westminster: raising what matters to local people, pressing ministers for funding and action, and making sure our area is heard in debates most of the country will never watch. This year alone I've spoken up on the future of our ceramics industry, our town centres, Sharlotte's Law and Road Safety and on the youth services that shape whether young people in our community get a fair start.

That last one matters to me personally. Before politics, I spent my career working in community organisations across North Staffordshire, including working for 18 years at our local YMCA in Hanley. I've seen what happens when family and youth provision disappears from a community, and what it takes to rebuild it. That's not theory to me; it's what I did for most of my working life.

Then there's the work at home: school visits, meeting local businesses, holding surgeries, attending community meetings, and pushing to deliver long-overdue projects in our local communities.

And then there's casework — the part of the job people see least but that often matters most. Alongside my team, we put more money into people's pockets, we deal with housing, NHS access, SEND support, families in crisis and so much more.

Much of it never becomes public because it's confidential, and I'd never breach that trust for a headline. But for the person going through it, that quiet casework is often the most important thing their MP does.

There's no typical week. I start Monday in the constituency with my team, talking about what we can do to make people's lives better, before heading down to Westminster for votes that often run past 10pm. The rest of the week is a mix of debates, committees, ministerial meetings and correspondence, before I'm back for my Thursday evening surgeries and visits on Friday and over the weekend — visiting, listening, following up.

Technology helps me stay in touch throughout, but there's no substitute for being in the room, hearing a problem directly, and seeing it for yourself.

Two years in, I'm conscious that this job is a genuine privilege, and one that shouldn't be taken for granted.

There'll always be more to do, decisions people disagree with, and cases that move more slowly than anyone would like. Part of my job is pushing government and public bodies harder when they're not moving fast enough.

But the real test of an MP was never whether they're visible in a TV shot of the chamber. It's whether they're accessible, whether they listen, whether they speak up for their area, and whether they turn that into results people can actually feel, like the recently-secured £120 million for our ceramics industry.

So next time you see those empty green benches, the honest answer is: we could be almost anywhere. But wherever I am, the job is the same — proudly representing Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, and making sure our communities get the attention, investment and service we all deserve.