HC Deb 06 November 2001 vol 374 c201W
41. Ms Dari Taylor

7 o ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what part the new community legal service partnerships play in reducing social exclusion.[10351]

Ms Rosie Winterton

Community legal service partnerships are responsible for co-ordinating the funding and delivery of legal and advice services in their area. Through an analysis of local legal needs, CLS partnerships can ensure that resources are more effectively targeted to help the socially excluded and other vulnerable groups and individuals.

CLS partnerships are also able to tackle social exclusion by forging links with other Government programmes. CLS partnerships are therefore starting to link with social exclusion initiatives such as local strategic partnerships where they have a key contribution to make to the delivery of the neighbourhood renewal strategy.

In order to raise awareness of how legal and advice services, through the CLS, can help combat social exclusion, the Lord Chancellor's Department has been working with the Law Centres Federation on a joint paper, to be entitled "Legal and Advice Services—A Pathway out of Social Exclusion". The paper will be launched in November and is to be made widely available.