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Policies on Poverty, Exclusion and Inequality●●●●Government departments and state agencies need to domore to ensure their engagement in local partnershiparrangements is real rather than formal. Where each aspectof the programmes and budgets of public bodies is centrallycontrolled, the engagement of local officers or representatives atlocal level in the design and implementation of cross-cuttinglocal strategies may only be superficial. National and localgovernment need to plan to allow real space for effectivepartnership by its officials in area-based strategies;Care should be exercised less a growing proceduralcomplexity make it more difficult to maintain clarity ofpurpose and a central focus on outcomes. Process-fatigue canresult when formal requirements for complying with proceduralnorms become onerous; they also take time and energy fromactivities that are more directly linked to changing outcomes onthe ground;An evidence-based approach to policy making (includingimpact assessment) should be adopted, recognising itsdependence on appropriate information, as highlighted bythe Council in its Review of the Poverty Proofing Process(NESC, 2001). The most telling argument for mainstreaming apilot project or other innovation with resource implicationsshould not be aspects of the programme design or the nature ofthe beneficiary organisation(s) but evidence that the sought-foroutcomes for people at risk of poverty and exclusion areeffectively and efficiently procured;A more formal and institutionalised role for the communityand voluntary sector in deliberating policy, providingservices and evaluating outcomes has implications that needto be more fully articulated and embraced. In consultationwith the entire community and voluntary sector, and respectinghaving what some already enjoy, are substantially economic, industrial, andpolitical… A radical approach aims to remove the underlying impediments tohealthier behaviour, or to control the adverse pressures. The first or medicalapproach is important, but only the social and political approach confronts theroot causes.”. (Geoffrey Rose,1992: 100, 105).353