SIR – Thank you for your coverage of Education Secretary Nicky Morgan’s visit to our school.
It was lovely to welcome the key driver of British education to a Worcestershire school. I believe she was impressed.
However, I am alarmed at your repetition of Councillor Adrian Hardman’s unnecessary, unhelpful, out of context comments regarding Worcestershire schools’ excessive reserves, which he described as “keeping high sums of money held back for a rainy day”. 
The reserves are those of local authority-maintained schools in Worcestershire, not academy schools. This point needs to be made clearly!
Christopher Whitehead has reserves that are approximately half a million, which is significantly less than is advisable for any stand-alone business. We need to aim to keep at least three months’ salary; we keep less than one month.
The educational accountants state that we are below the acceptable minimum for a business with 162 full time employees.
Mr Hardman is making a vague, ‘cheap’ political point, repeated by Nicky Morgan that is divisive at a time when all Worcestershire schools are under enormous financial pressure.
In two years’ time, Christopher Whitehead is predicting a deficit budget due to cuts in education funding and increases in employer costs. 
This is a fact that is known by the county council and I am saddened at this misleading, inaccurate comment (repeated to mislead the public?).
To keep a reasonable level of reserve for capital build and unexpected building costs is sensible, prudent accounting policy that we are currently struggling to follow. It is a struggle that needs to be reported accurately.
NEIL MORRIS
Headteacher
Christopher Whitehead Language College and Sixth Form

UK quota for refugees is shamefully low
SIR – I totally agree with Geraldine Lowman (“Our Bishop is right to speak his mind”, Letters, November 9). When you learn that Sweden, a country of 9.6 million has already taken in 190,000 refugees, and European countries will receive some 600,000 between them this year, David Cameron’s quota of 20,000 over the next five years looks paltry by comparison. 
Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are hosting nearly four million between them in wretched conditions. Greece, economically on its knees, is handling tens of thousands landing on the Island of Lesbos with help from charities. 
Italy has experienced flows of refugees for many years now. Around 3,400 have drowned this year alone in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.
I also agree that bringing the wars to an end should be UN-led. 
The big powers and governments involved might like to revisit the UN Charter some time to remind themselves of what they signed up to when they joined after The Second World War. 
They seem to have lost sight of the need for their peace talks to be rooted in their humanity and not in seeking advantage in geopolitical power politics.
Raining down bombs will not solve anything, just kill people including innocents. If there is to be a military dimension to achieving a peace, then it has to be UN-led and be of a size of overwhelming superiority in manpower and materiel in order to bring it to a swift end.
PETER NIELSEN
Worcester


Residents seem to be lacking charity spirit
SIR – The people of Worcester obviously don’t believe in supporting local charity if the bonfire and firework display organised by the Rotary Club is indicative. 
I was with a family group who all paid our £5.00 to go onto the racecourse but I was disgusted to see the hundreds of locals who wouldn’t pay to go in.
Instead they stood on the pedestrian bridge and lined Hylton Road and numerous vantage points outside the venue. 
I estimate that at least 1500 mean-minded people did not contribute to the charity. 
A loss of at least £7500. Shame on them.
BRIAN HOWELLS
Worcester

Government must do more for environment
Sir – There are many causes of flooding.
As CO2 levels rise and the climate changes, we can expect both sea levels to rise but also for there to be many more severe storms and flash floods. 
Higher air temperatures allow more moisture to be absorbed by the atmosphere causing bigger floods when it eventually drops.
The increase in the number of houses, roads and other buildings with hard surfaces cause more water to run off into the rivers rather than soaking more slowly into the ground.
As some degree of climate change is now inevitable, mitigation work like that being discussed for the Barbourne Brook is needed and I commend and support Robin Walker MP’s intervention here. However, we also need to look at the underlying reasons for the causes of flooding like the increases of CO2 and the insufficient planning of complete river catchment areas.
The government is sadly lacking in its ambitions for tackling the real root causes such as limiting CO2 emissions – a case in point is their plan to massively reduce subsidies for domestic solar panels due to kick-in on January 1, 2016. 
The Green Party would like to see more investment in renewable energy production and home insulation not less. 
This type of investment would reduce CO2 emissions whilst at the same time create thousands of skilled jobs.
LOUIS STEPHEN
Worcester Green Party

The Royal was built for the whole county
SIR – Labour councillor Richard Udall is wrong to say Worcestershire Royal Hospital “was built for a city not a county”. There is a clue in the name, and staff and patients come from all of Worcestershire.
He seems to be falling into the government trap that there is not enough money for a well-staffed, resilient and accountable NHS. 
The funding gap for the NHS is £4billion. This is a tiny fraction of the money found to bail out the banks.
As regards the maternity unit at the Alex, how many staff are needed for it to reopen? Where will they be recruited from and will the Acute Trust keep us informed  or sit on their hands until February?
It is time for the NHS trade unions to come together to discuss these issues and plan a response which opposes all closures and cutbacks.
PETE MCNALLY
Worcester TUSC