Winchester City Council has published a table showing which councillors have the best - and the worst - record for attending meetings over the last year.

The table shows that, on average, councillors attended 38 meetings for which they were entitled to claim a basic attendance allowance of £5, 448, plus travel and child-minding expenses. But there is a huge variation between the 57 members, depending on the number of committees they belong to.

Labour leader, Patrick Davies, tops the table as hardest-working councillor, attending a remarkable 95 meetings, compared to Tory group leader, Barry Lipscomb, at 19 and Lib-Dem council leader, Sheila Campbell, at 40. Mr Lipscomb admitted he missed several meetings because of a four-week round-the-world trip, but slammed the table as "misleading".

"It does not show constituency work or the quality of contribution when you attend meetings and it omits a significant number of important meetings I go to, such as joint ones with Hampshire County Council on traffic and road issues, which have a major impact on Winchester."

He added that, with 22 members, the Tories were able to spread committee membership more widely than the the four-strong Labour group.

Lib-Dem, Geraldine McKay (Oliver's Battery and Badger Farm), attended the fewest meetings at nine, but that was because of medical problems. Mrs McKay, who hasspinal arthritis, resigned last June for health reasons after serving three years on the council.

Six councillors are celebrating a 100% record of attendance, including Tory Frank Pearson (Swanmore and Newtown) and Lib-Dem Ernest Nunn (St Luke in Winchester).

Newly-elected Conservative, Caroline Watts (Whiteley), had the worst record, making it to only 14 out of 29 meetings. The mother-of-two said the reasons she missed half her meetings was that they sometimes clashed with Whiteley Parish Council meetings, of which she is also a member and her youngest child had just started school and was still doing half-days.

Most councillors are retired men. Mrs Watts (26) is unusual in having to juggle a young family, part-time job and council responsibilities. "It was my first year as a councillor, trying to balance work, family life and parish council. I don't think it's a question of something has to give. It's just settling down."

Council leader, Sheila Campbell, attended 40 out of a possible 48 meetings, giving her an 83% attendance. She admitted it was "not a perfect record", but said she was sometimes double-booked to attend both city council meetings and those of external organisations, such as the Local Government Association and South East of England Regional Assembly.

Mrs Campbell said the council published the attendance record to improve accountablility. "A couple of absences a year are perhaps inevitable because of illness from time to time or family commitments.

"But councillors should make a special effort to attend and represent the communities that elected them, because that is what is expected of them."