Oxford City Council's revenues and benefits department is a good example for the whole council.

On every measure, the service is a lot better than it used to be.

When Lib Dem councillor John Goddard and his colleagues were running the council three or four years ago, the department was one of the worst performing in the country, and staff morale was at rock bottom.

Following years of hard work which has successfully turned this department around, the council now collects more money to be spent on council services than ever before.

It is better at collecting debts and cracking down on council tax cheats and has received praise from the Government for how much quicker it is at processing benefit claims.

This year, more than £1m extra owed to the council has been collected, and despite a loss of staff, mostly because they have been promoted, benefit claims are still being assessed in half the time that it took three years ago.

This hardly suggests that the staff are inadequately trained or that morale is at rock bottom, and I am confident that as we replace the staff who have left, there will continue to be further improvements to this service.

Dan Paskins

Executive Member for Social Inclusion Oxford City Council