Government steps up to battle against social exclusion

The Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) and Law Centres Federation (LCF) have joined forces to push the need for legal advice and services to be integrated into the community to tackle social exclusion.A joint paper by the two, published last week at the LCF annual conference, concluded that among other things, there should be a survey of central government spending on legal and advice services, and that the government should ensure that Community Legal Service partnerships support local initiatives on social exclusion.Speaking at the conference, LCD minister Rosie Winterton MP said: 'The document is very, very good ammunition for me when I campaign against social exclusion in government...

Many people suffer through not knowing what their rights are and thus not being able to obtain justice.'LCF chairman Bob Nightingale said: 'The role of legal advice and the role of law centres in the legal services has been overlooked in government planning.

This booklet is hopefully the start of addressing those problems.Andrew Towler