The National Audit Office’s Abdool Kara spies some manoeuvring by county councils in their approach to the fairer funding debate. 'Careful selection of facts to make the case is the name of the game' he asserted in last week’s The MJ. Sadly he then rather spoils his point by carefully selecting some facts to make the case for challenging the counties arguments. He's right, though, to observe that others will naturally do the same, with the whole debate debased as a consequence.

This is precisely why this county is not advancing a model constructed to suit ourselves. Rather, we are asking for a simple model to be built upon factual data (such as miles of road, number of adults over 65, number of children on free school meals, all weighted then by criteria, including deprivation and sparsity etc) to a calculation that can be seen and understood by all – if not , indeed, agreed by all. Keep it simple to keep it straight.