WHEN will Worcestershire County Council admit that its "delegations" to Westminster are a waste of time and money?

The Government may well have promised cash to the county to assist social services after one of these jaunts, but it can have had little to do with petitioning Health Minister Yvette Cooper.

For the Evening News had revealed some weeks before that the Government was already thinking of a handout. The news caught Worcestershire County Council off-guard.

Surely the meagre Standard Spending Assessment announced last week - with Worcestershire at the bottom of the heap yet again - showed that the Ministers pay scant regard to "delegations", petitions and what-have-you.

After all, does anyone really think that Worcestershire is the only county to send its head honchos on these trips?