Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell says he is 'focused on working hard for the people of Tauranga” upon returning to the Beehive this week.

'We have had some significant challenges as a city and I'm committed to working with everyone to help solve them.

'That is my focus at this point in time,” Uffindell told The Weekend Sun on Wednesday.

The National Party caucus reinstated Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell on Monday, September 19, following an independent investigation into 'serious allegations” against him in August.

National leader Christopher Luxon says the investigation found that Uffindell 'did not engage in the serious behaviour alleged in the media”.

Uffindell was stood down from the caucus on August 9 after a woman made allegations about Mr Uffindell when they shared a student flat with four others in 2003. Uffindell strongly denied the incident his flatmate described.

The National Party appointed King's Counsel Maria Dew to conduct an independent investigation into the woman's claim, which followed Uffindell's admission of bullying at high school.

Luxon says he and National Party president Syliva Wood received Dew's report on late Thursday, September 16 and took the weekend to reflect on it.

'The investigation has found there are differing accounts of an incident that happened 20 years ago in the context of a student flat that was breaking up. Mr Uffindell has acknowledged that things were said that he now realises his flatmate overheard, which he regrets,” says Luxon.

'Mr Uffindell has also publicly acknowledged that he was a bully at King's College and that this behaviour harmed a number of people, for which he has apologised.

'With the known matters having now been independently considered, and with Mr Uffindell's own acknowledgement that he is a different person now to the person he once was, we are now able to move forward.

'Mr Uffindell is looking forward to working hard for the people of Tauranga. I am confident he can and will do that.”

Sam Uffindell won the Tauranga by-election earlier this year to claim the job of representing the people of Tauranga in Parliament, which was prompted by the retirement of long-standing MP and National Party heavyweight Simon Bridges.