ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine how social policy has influenced the work of health promotion, particularly in the last decade. During this time the government has developed health strategies which have been designed to improve the health of the population in Britain. Early health strategies did not acknowledge health inequalities and it was not until the New Labour government took office that this was addressed. In recent years it has been recognised that there are a number of sections of the community which are socially excluded for a variety of reasons. The government has produced policies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are designed to deal with social exclusion and which have implications for local government. The focus of many of these strategies is the process of community development and the empowerment of local communities. The process of community development is complex, as is the process of empowerment, and it is not clear to what extent we can truly empower communities in the current political climate or whether we just enable people to improve their health.
