SIR - The MP for Bradford North, Terry Rooney, has been complaining that the benefits system is too complicated, slow and difficult to understand (T&A, December 7).

This, he says, causes stress and means some people don't get the help they are entitled to, either to claim benefits or get back to work.

This is completely true. Perhaps he hasn't noticed it is his Government that has been creating these complexities and that he is the chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee whose job it is to "examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Work and Pensions."

In other words, scrutinise what is happening and suggest better ways of doing it.

Where has he been since 1997 as his Government introduced these complexities? And what has he done about it?

In an attempt to find the answers to these questions, I visited his website. I found surgery dates for the first half of 2006 and a single press release from 2005 - ironically encouraging pensioners to claim their winter fuel allowance.

What a joke!

Alun Griffiths, Thornton Hall Farm, Coach Lane, Bradford