Welcome to the seventh edition of the European Social Network (ESN)'s e-newsletter dedicated to promoting social inclusion. In this edition:

Third ESN Inclusion Seminar// Metz, 25-26 October 2006: Social and Employment Activation

The final seminar of this year will be held in Metz on 25-26 October. The first day will be a hosted as part of the biennial congress of ESN's French inclusion partner, the Union Nationale des Centres Communaux d'Action Sociale (UNCCAS), the union of local social welfare centres which work in villages, towns and cities across France. This joint day - likely to be attended by around 600 delegates - will allow ESN and its partner UNCCAS to raise awareness of the EU Social Inclusion Process among local representatives and practitioners of social services in France's 36,000 communes.

As with the previous two inclusion seminars, a limited number of funded places are available and priority will be given to ESN members. We have planned for contributions from various countries, which have developed integrated social and employment services, e.g. the Netherlands and Norway. We have invited a representative of the European Commission to present a recent EU communication on active labour market inclusion, which may lay the way for EU involvement in supporting return to work of those furthest from the labour market.

If you are interested in attending, please write to us as soon as possible and we will let you know whether we can allocate you a funded place. We will make full information available on the ESN inclusion website by mid-August.

A couple of summaries of country studies...

National Action Plans// Review the NAP process from the perspective of social services

The NAPs are in the final stage of consultation on the basis of draft plans in many countries. It is time to begin to review the NAP process from the perspective of local and regional social services in Europe. ESN members have become involved in the NAP consultation process and their participation has been valued by national governments. An ESN survey of NAP officials revealed that overcoming discrimination and increasing the integration of people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and immigrants is the most common political priority of the NAPs among the countries which responded.

VVOS - the Flemish association of directors of social welfare centres - became involved in the Beglian government's Social Inclusion Group in May-July. VVOS presented the ESN programme and the key recommendations of the Barcelona seminar as well as presenting a survey on accessibility carried out by VVOS. Their contribution was welcomed by the national ministry as the first time that social services have been present at such a meeting. VVOS is keen to be involved from the beginning of the process next time.

FSD - the Danish association of social and health directors - has been very active in the NAP process. The FSD executive committee met several times with the directors of the ministry of social affairs. FSD’s chair was one of the main speakers at the opening conference for the NAP and presented the role of local authorities in the process. FSD is also part of the NAPincl.dk national awareness-raising project this year.

We have added some new information to the NAP monitoring update showing examples of the participation of local and regional social services across Europe. The update can be downloaded here.

EU Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion// Tampere, 16-17 October 2006: a major European event under the Finnish Presidency

The annual European Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion is an activity planned under the EU Community Programme to Combat Social Exclusion. It is a key European awareness raising event, which promotes dialogue between all stakeholders in the context of the EU Social Inclusion Process. The event is jointly organised by the (Finnish) Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission in October every year.

ESN has been involved in the planning meetings for the round table and has been pushing for the representation of a "service perspective". ESN will attend the event in order to ensure that all actors recognise the role of social services - as key partners in daily contact with vulnerable people - in combating social exclusion and to promote the need to work with social services at all levels of government.

The next e-newsletter will come out at the end of August and will feature:

• the full seminar report and key recommendations from Venice
• further news on the progress of the NAPs/Inclusion
• more news on the next inclusion seminar in Metz in October
• examples of good practice