Today the Social Exclusion Unit in the Office of the Deputy prime minister is publishing a major report entitled "A Sure Start to Later Life: Ending Inequalities for Older People".

The report highlights:

that significant progress has been made in tackling social exclusion among older people. Pensioner poverty is down from 28 per cent. in 1996 to 20 per cent. in 2004. The numbers experiencing multiple disadvantage has dropped from 23 per cent. to 17 per cent. since 1997. But, there is a need to make further improvements for the most excluded; there is a need for a concerted effort to the tackle social exclusion, disadvantage and deprivation facing some older people. As the population is ageing it is important to tackle exclusion now to avoid greater problems in the future; and that we need to change the way we view older people. Poverty, decline and exclusion are not an inevitable part of ageing. We need to get services right so that all older people have the opportunities to participate in their local communities.

That tackling the exclusion facing older people requires:

A move from crisis management to prevention

Joining up services around users

Individual and community empowerment

The report sets out proposals for a more responsive model of services for older people that addresses these issues, and which builds on the approach of Sure Start in galvanising communities and reshaping children's services. The Sure Start to later life approach will use the same methods as the children's model to bring together services around older people, and to provide a single, accessible gateway to a wide range of services in the community. A pilot programme called "Link-Age Plus" will test out the Sure Start approach for older people.

The report contains 30 action points to be taken forward by Government Departments, which as a whole represent a comprehensive plan to tackle social exclusion among older people. The Implementation Team in the Social Exclusion Unit will monitor the progress made by the Departments on individual action points and will work to ensure that the overarching goals contained within the report are pursued across Government.

Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Further copies can be downloaded from http://www.socialexclusion.gov.uk/page.asp?id=573