Analysis: Policy - Social exclusion - Youth workers can reach outto help the excluded

"Youth workers are a very important part of the workforce. Good youth work engages hard-to-reach young people who won't have anything to do with anyone else. That is very important."

So says Cabinet Office minister Hilary Armstrong, who led work on Reaching Out - An Action Plan for Social Exclusion, which was published on Monday.

And as a former social worker and lecturer in youth and community work at Sunderland Polytechnic, she is certainly well placed to assess the contribution that youth work can make.

The cross-departmental plan takes a lifetime approach to provision, promoting intervention to stop problems developing later on. The phrases "early intervention", "individual budget holding", "lead professional" and "commissioning" are sprinkled liberally throughout.