Sir - The picture of the county council's children's services that you paint (Oxford Mail, November 17) is not one that we recognise.

We fear it will undermine the morale of our hard-working and highly committed staff.

The level and quality of our services for children with disabilities have not been criticised by inspectors, on this occasion or on any other.

We have long wished that we could provide more in this area, but in the present financial context, that fact simply highlights the dilemma in which we find ourselves.

The main area where we were criticised relates to the educational qualifications achieved by children in public care.

Many children, who have been in care through most of their childhood, achieve excellent results, of which they and their carers can be proud.

The balance is tipped by small numbers of children entering the care system in their mid-teens, in distressing circumstances and usually after years of poor attendance at school and low achievement.

We acknowledge that we have more to do here. It is perverse that performance indicators for schools give them little incentive to make the attainment of these pupils a matter of priority, whereas it is a crucial indicator for social care.

This does nothing to foster confidence in the Government's obsession with judging by crude and often conflicting indicators but, whatever we may feel about star ratings, we do not lightly dismiss the substance of the criticism.

It is important for their own sakes that all children in public care receive a sound education.

Most schools recognise this and we will be working even harder with them to ensure that this happens.

Our message to our staff about the star ratings is: "Don't get angry, get even. Carry on working to improve our services and prove to the inspectors that their judgement on Oxfordshire services is seriously 'flawed'."

Janet Godden

Don Seale

Social and Health Care Portfolio Holders

Oxfordshire County Council