I would like to assure your readers that Oxford City Council accepted the criticisms about our Benefits Service, and had set about putting things right well before the Audit Commission came along.

The Oxford Mail’s report on Thursday recognised that the commission found many good things about our services, including the positive views of our customers, but we do not feel that they gave enough weight to the rapid improvement that has been taking place over the past year.

They were looking back over three years and the service was not performing well for a lot of that time.

I took over responsibility for the Benefits Service on the city executive on the the day the Audit Commission arrived.

And from day one, I have focused on how we can make the whole operation better. I am determined that the service must be high quality for those who need help, and good value for the council tax-payer too.

There are radical changes in the pipeline for the benefits service and we have to carry those through in the best way possible.

We want people to be confident that there will be good customer service and efficient handling of all claims.

The Oxford Mail is right to say that the service simply wasn’t good enough. The test for the council now is how we learn the lessons and put things right.

No-one is burying their head in the sand over this. From the leader and chief executive down, we are all on the case.

Val Smith, Executive Board Member for Benefits & Customer Services Oxford City Council