Sir – It was Lib Dem John Howson who first identified Oxford city schools as the worst-performing in the country at KS1 in 2011. Clearly, something needed to be done.

Labour-run Oxford City Council continues to claim that the KRM reading scheme it chose has delivered substantial benefits for the city’s primary schools.

If so, why are only two schools still using it? Headteachers know what their pupils need, and clearly this is not it.

Liberal Democrats on the council do not want to ‘score cheap political points’. But the mistake was to go for a prescriptive, inflexible, one-size-fits-all approach, chosen not by teachers but by politicians. As well as content, implementation was flawed. When it started the contract, KRM believed schools were already signed up. They were not. Why? Where was the political oversight? KRM’s assessment is based on its own tests, which are not detailed in the report.

Comparison with published KS results suggests that progress has been variable, at best. Well-targeted intervention can certainly have an impact, but getting KRM to set and mark its own homework doesn’t help.

Liberal Democrats want to support Oxford’s schools. Our approach, suggested in our alternative city council budget, would allow heads greater freedom in finding ways to meet agreed targets, for example by focusing on children whose first language is not English, combining with other schools to address a shared objective, or working with parents and the wider community.

Schemes from the county council or other providers could be used where appropriate.

Labour have squandered scarce public money on a scheme which has failed to produce the intended outcomes and their judgment has to be questioned.

It is time to work with others for the sake of the Oxford children who have been failed by Labour. First, though, let’s bin KRM, admit it was a mistake, and save the money the council is still wasting on it.

Andrew Gant, Lib Dem spokesman for Educational Attainment, Oxford City Council