Your report on Oxford City Council's recent assessment by the Audit Commission (Oxford Mail, February 28) only tells part of the story.

A balanced view is that we are improving, but have a long way to go on value for money, particularly in relation to leisure services.

Before I became chief executive last summer, the council had already committed itself to improving value for money and improving service performance.

The record of inspections shows a steady improvement since the council was categorised as weak in 2003.

More recently, the pace of improvement has speeded up.

Since my arrival, I have, with strong cross-party support from councillors, started to implement a transformation programme.

The budget agreed by the council this month is the second phase in our efficiency drive.

In 2007, we reduced our annual costs by £3m. In 2008, we will reduce our costs by a further £3m.

This has already reduced costs by 20 per cent of our gross budget.

From 2009 to 2012, a further £3m will be saved. This means that by 2012, we will have cut our costs by £9m a year.

At the same time, the council has been comparing its performance against the rest of local government.

Two years ago, 36 out of 61 of our performance indicators were below average, with 25 above.

Now we have 27 below and 34 above, with more of our indicators in the top quarter than many councils rated as excellent.

This reflects rapid performance improvements in areas such as planning, recycling, benefits, council tax collection and council house re-let times.

Local government is a democratic institution and it is right that the different parties compete and have different visions and programmes.

But in my experience, councillors all have the welfare of the city and the council at heart and there is a strong determination, with the support of a strong management team and committed and able staff, to transform the performance and value for money achieved by the council.

PETER SLOMAN Chief executive Oxford City Council