Policy Action Team on Skills Following last September's publication of the Social Exclusion Unit's report Bringing Britain Together: A National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, 18 Policy Action Teams (PATs), involving officials from Government Departments and a number of external experts, have been set up to examine different aspects of deprivation and to make recommendations for long-term action to turn disadvantaged communities around. The Policy Action Team on Skills was led by DfEE and chaired by Derek Grover, the Director of Skills and Lifelong Learning in the Department. Our remit was to examine the reasons why many people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods have low skill levels and to make recommendations about how they might be improved. We did this via an intensive programme of research and visits, which culminated in a report being sent to the Prime Minister. An overall National Strategy for neighbourhood renewal, building on reports from all 18 PATs, is due for completion early next year. Like all PATs, we have worked in an inclusive, consultative way, involving many external contacts and residents of deprived communities themselves. A major part of our work has involved a programme of fieldwork to support - or disprove - assumptions and theories about the barriers to improving skills that residents from these neighbourhoods experience. By taking in views from all the key local players in education, training and regeneration, including voluntary and community groups, employers and, most importantly, individual residents, we have been able to weeve into our report first-hand experiences of what does and does not work.

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