Sir – Governments and councils of all political colours and none have striven for centuries to provide ‘good’ public services. When Gordon Brown was Chancellor we saw the high watermark of the ‘set lots of targets from on high’ approach.

Your columns documented the results; the police and other services delivering the service the targets demanded, not the service the public wanted. The last Government saw the unintended consequences of their approach and they and the current Government have reduced significantly the number of targets.

Police officers, firefighters, NHS staff, teachers et al will all strive to do what they see as their best professional job but they need public input, public approval and public funding. In some cases that can come through elections to a board of governors for a school, in other cases through GP commissioning in the NHS. For the police it will come through the election of a police and crime commissioner. In all cases there needs to be greater public accountability.

Your journalism will be an important factor in improving public services. Constructive public criticism of our public services with constructive responses will help professionals and public alike to improve. Your readers may recall the time when Oxfordshire County Council was ‘hung’. No politician was responsible for delivering services. Today, discussion with the likes of Ian Hudspeth, Rodney Rose, Bob Price, Colin Cook et al is part of the process of working out how to improve our services. On November 15, we will have someone with whom to engage on improving our police service.

Vernon Porter, Oxford