Robert Halfon is the Conservative MP for Harlow. In his diary of the week, he talks about ID cards and a cap on foreign immigration.

It has been another busy week in Parliament. I was pleased to support a number of Harlow community groups over the weekend, including Harlowsave, Holy Cross Primary School and Elbow Grease.

In the House of Commons, I hosted a meeting with the Essex Federation of Small Businesses. We hope to cut the tax bills for start-up businesses in Harlow. I have also written to the chancellor, George Osborne, asking him what can be done.

Work continues to bring the Health Protection Agency to Harlow, with hundreds of jobs with it. I have met with their chief executive to discuss this, and will continue to do all I can to make this happen.

In the House of Commons, I asked the health minister why it costs patients so much money to make phone calls in hospitals. There was some success, as he promised a thorough review, which should see lower costs in the future.

The government has asked me to serve on the parliamentary committee which is scrapping ID cards (for everyone other than foreign nationals), and I have been working hard to accelerate this. Gordon Brown wasted huge sums of money on this bureaucratic programme. I’m glad that common sense has triumphed, and we can now spend the money on police instead. It is good news that the home secretary has announced a cap on foreign immigration, so that our borders are properly controlled in the future.