Rita McNamara, what marks would you give the social exclusion unit out of ten, so far?

BBC: News Online

The recently established Social Exclusion Unit, headed by Moira Wallace, a feisty new-style Treasury official, is the model to watch.

ECONOMIST: Tony Blair��s mighty servant

Our work was about exactly the kind of "community-led regeneration" which is now advocated by the prime minister's Social Exclusion Unit.

BBC: Wainwright: Livingstone led the way

But many of the other initiatives coming out of Downing Street's Social Exclusion Unit such as measures aimed at reviving sink estates seem to be aimed primarily at cities.

ECONOMIST: The countryside: Poverty and plenty | The

But as the government says, the Social Exclusion Unit is not just about fighting social ills, it is also about creating better services for the individual and the community as a whole.

BBC: News | UK | The long battle against social exclusion

Others argue that new institutions such as the Social Exclusion Unit and new policies such as the New Deals for young people and communities are significant measures to tackle the causes of crime and are ones which would not have been promoted by the Conservatives.

BBC: Unit 4: Political issues

That impression grows when you take a closer look at the three areas identified by the social-exclusion unit.

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