They had gathered to celebrate the school obtaining Fairtrade status – the first of Burnley's schools to do so.

I heard all about their work to spread awareness of the need to ensure a decent wage paid to subsistence farmers, how they had met cabinet minister for development Douglas Alexander and how they were making a profit for good causes from their Fairtrade shop in school.

From there it was more coffee, this time at a coffee morning at Ighten Leigh Social Club, organised with two of our county councillors, Tony and Maureen Martin. This was a chance to have a chat with people living locally, listen to any concerns and answer questions.

This is something I enjoy doing and this time we had a good session with residents raising issues about anti-social behaviour and healthcare provision. We took notes of all the issues raised and will get back to the people who raised them. Thanks to all who came along.

After that, I spent some time in the office going through some of the cases that have come in during the week when I was in Westminster. Then it was off to Padiham in the afternoon for a busy surgery at Padiham Town Hall. After that I drove to Stockport to pick up my family who were arriving on the fast train from London and we settled into our Burnley home for the weekend.

Living in two locations can be a bit of a logistical challenge when you have young children, but I am of the view the most important thing is for them to be with their parents – so, like me, they spend a lot of time on trains!

On Saturday afternoon we went to Burnley Rugby Union Club on the northern border of my constituency, behind the Oaks Hotel. I'd been meaning to go and watch a match there for a while and although we were roundly thrashed (32-8) by a visiting team from Vale of Lune, at Morecambe, it was an enjoyable afternoon and I'd like to thank the club members for their hospitality.

Then on Sunday we left town early as I was due to be a live guest on the BBC North West's Politics Show, which is broadcast from Manchester at 12-30 p.m. So I left my family in a Manchester restaurant and went to the studio to take part in a discussion about the Government's plans to help local credit unions to grow.

This is a subject dear to my heart when I was a Treasury minister and, thankfully, I still retain a bit of responsibility for the subject in my new post at the Department for Work and Pensions. So I felt comfortable explaining that, particularly in the current financial situation, it's important people should be able to access affordable credit if they need to, rather than turning to more expensive options or illegal loan sharks.

From there it was back down to London and into my new ministerial office on Monday morning.

On top of the normal votes in Parliament, I'm spending this week getting up to speed with the decisions that need to be made on various aspects of policy I am responsible for in my new job. On Monday next week my group of ministers has its first question time in the chamber of the House of Commons, so I've got until then to become a world expert!