SIR - I have just been reading about the health of council staff.

It seems to me that to be able to cope with such an amount of absenteeism through sickness means they must be grossly over-staffed in the first place. I see the cabinet have got a 21-point action-plan, so let me just add one more - and that is to prune very hard at the top in order to get better get better fruits at the bottom.

According to your paper, other sectors in the public sector appear to have a lot of sick people. It's no wonder council tax has virtually doubled since it was introduced.

JOHN SHEARON,

Worcester.