12.5 At local level, strategic partnerships can make a particular contribution in identifying and meeting their needs of those individuals and groups who might otherwise be overlooked or neglected. People with varieties of learning difficulties and disabilities and those with histories of mental ill health or emotional disturbance will benefit greatly from improved collaboration between different services.

12.6 Similarly, those who have been excluded from educational institutions, or who have for other reasons been unable to pursue their studies through conventional routes, will benefit from co-operation between service providers, in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. This should include those bodies that might not normally regard learning as a central concern. Local providers should work closely with such partners, developing their own expertise in both determining and meeting the variety of needs of such people, who must be fully embraced within an inclusive and equitable culture of lifelong learning for all.

12.7 The leadership and imagination of local authorities will be essential in these kinds of circumstance. They will need to work hand in hand with those individuals, groups and organisations in the community that provide the most effective links with people whose needs will otherwise not figure. They will need to encourage providers to develop the necessary skills, expertise and, above all, change of philosophy and approach which this aspect of lifelong learning for citizenship entails.

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