Sir – Where is the evidence? – I mean the evidence behind the proposed cuts in funding for county council services.

I am sure that council officers would not put forward proposals that they actually believe will cause isolation, suffering and even death to the most vulnerable in our society, but there is no evidence we can examine to decide whether we agree.

So, £3.4m might be saved on adult social care because “demand may not be as high”: without seeing any evidence we cannot comment.

Or £3.1m can be saved by reassessing people’s “eligible needs” i.e. cutting the personal budgets of people who are currently assessed as needing help because of disability, frailty, vulnerability etc.: evidence?

Or reconfiguring children’s centres will somehow “mitigate” the impact of reducing funding for the library service (again) because parents will have better skills and children be more literate: that one really puzzles me.

At the (so-called) consultation meeting in Banbury, people telling their personal stories of how they had been helped by a centre for older people or their local children’s centre were told there was no evidence that cutting or redesigning these services would cause harm: we have not seen any evidence to the contrary.

Every month, I participate in a national committee where we discuss the credibility of statistics and whether there is proof that what we are discussing will actually work.

At home in Oxfordshire, I, and every other member of the public, cannot even begin to respond sensibly to a major consultation, because there is no detailed evidence to consider.

Dr Judith Wardle
North Leigh