This initial meeting of this Thematic Network saw representatives from the seven Demographic Change projects across England come together with national level policy makers.

The purpose was to provide an overview of each of these projects, which are just getting underway in various regions on England, and to agree the purpose and direction of the Demographic Change Thematic Network (DCTN).

TAEN was invited to participate to help identify good practice and to help support its mainstreaming and dissemination.

The main purpose of the ITM projects is to devise and test new approaches in their regions with a view that those which prove successful may be more widely adopted and mainstreamed. This may require policy changes and therefore the ITM projects are potentially in a unique position to influence policy makers.

Knowledge sharing and co-operation - both between themselves and mainstream ESF projects in their regions - is seen as one of their key contributions and outcomes.

The Thematic Network will be meeting twice a year.