Government agency for social inclusion to expand its activities

The government agency for social inclusion will expand its activities to 17 more towns and cities around the Czech Republic in 2013, according to the head of the agency Pavel Šimíček. The agency, set up in 2008, has been active in 33 problem localities to date, working closely with local authorities to resolve housing problems and creating a liaison between people living in social exclusion and labour offices, schools and the police. According to available data there are around 300 slums around the Czech Republic, inhabited predominantly by members of the Romany minority.