THE fact that Bury Social Services department has been named in both the national and local press as one of the worst in the country, should make council leaders feel ashamed, especially because it follows a recent inspection report which should have prompted them to get their act together.

Instead it has got worse, in my opinion, and the reaction of the politicians - as reported in the Bury Times - is brass-necked.

The chairman of the social services committee says that people don't want "apologies and excuses".

As for excuses, we had a string of those from the council leader. But what's wrong with an apology? Isn't a Labour council particularly concerned that its most spectacular failure affects the most vulnerable members of our community and that the rhetoric about caring is not matched by effective action?

Councillor Derek Boden's own reaction is that we don't want "a culture of blame". All right then, what about a culture of accountability?

Senior officers of Bury Council have had a very good deal. They have been shoehorned into jobs, then the salaries have been increased to a "competitive" level, even though there was no competition for them in the first place. Both they and the council members should accept responsibility - and sometimes that does mean accepting blame.

To read what Coun Boden says, the whole thing can be put down to staff shortages, absences and bad luck. He may believe that: the Government doesn't and I doubt very much whether the people of Bury do either.

A. A. ROBINSON,

Radcliffe.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.