Mr West (Oxford Mail, May 20) wants to know whether or not I stayed in a hotel on the night before the County Council budget meeting this year.

This is absolutely none of his business. It does become his business if I charged such a stay to the public purse.

The Oxford Mail has asked how much I have charged against County Council expenses for stays at the Malmaison Hotel and I have told them I have never charged the County Council to stay at the Malmaison Hotel.

If Mr West looks at the County Council website on http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/links/public/allowances he will find that members allowance (a sort of modest salary subject to tax and national insurance contributions) and reimbursement of expenses incurred on council business are reported every year for each councillor and have been for as long as I can remember.

The figures for 2008/09 will be published very soon now.

Given the level of interest our MPs have created in this subject, I have asked that, in future, they should be published monthly throughout the year rather than simply at the end of the year.

If Mr West were to compare our level of allowances with those of other county councils in the South East or our close neighbours in the South West region, he would find we generally pay the lowest amounts.

Keith R Mitchell CBE, Leader of the Council, County Hall, Oxford