At the end of July, £6,100 was stolen from the Vale Council offices inAbingdon. This has rightly been kept confidential during the investigation,but is clearly of public interest as it is a not insubstantial sum of publicmoney that has been stolen. The police declined to undertake a full investigation, instead relying onthe Council to carry out its own investigation. After several weeks itremained unclear exactly when the theft took place, narrowed down only to athree day period. This is an extremely serious matter, and I do not believe that the responsefrom the police or the council has been adequate. There have clearly beenmanagement failings, and I have written to the Chief Constable expressing myconcerns that no further action was taken. Recommendations have been made to prevent future breaches in security, but these have been kept confidential by the council. No evidence has been discovered that identifies a suspect.