Sir, The county Labour group need to get a sense of proportion (Councillors accused of holding back funding as patients block hospital beds, April 14). The carefully managed underspend of £931,000 is out of a budget of over £74m. Much of the underspend is being used to ensure that vulnerable children in danger and people with learning disabilities are looked after. I don't think any straight thinking person would begrudge spending on them. Some of this money will be spent on adult services in 2006/7 to ensure that the level of services is maintained. It is always necessary to manage the various budgets in social and community services to ensure that the increasing number of vulnerable people in the council's care get help, often at short notice.

In this financial year we are increasing spending on adult services to £75.5m, besides establishing a £1m "standby fund" to reduce adverse effects on the county's services arising from the NHS cuts that are coming our way. Also by 2008 we will have increased the number of residential and nursing beds by over 130.

Difficult judgments constantly have to be made and it is easy to pick holes in one part of the whole £218m operation. Of course there are some adverse effects resulting from the overall shortage of money. I, and the social and community services managers, have had to make hard choices. There are no soft options.

But I do not expect councillor Gatehouse to accept or even understand this, as she is too anxious to make cheap points with the district council elections in mind.

Councillor Don Seale, Cabinet member for adult learning and cultural services