study Noun
Over 100 participants from the main interest groups attended and debated issues such as the role of key actors including public authorities , social partners , voluntary and community organisations as well as service users .
There were relatively few cases reported of attempts to involve users in service planning but their involvement in service provision was found to be more common .
Note was also taken of the variety of different roles played by public welfare
The Foundation organised , together with the European Commission , the Spanish Ministry of Social Affairs and the Galician regional government , a European conference on social exclusion : a major challenge for public welfare services .
The Foundation recently published a comparative study as part of the EPOC project which assesses the extent to which direct participation can humanise work while increasing profitability .
The study is based on 195 personal interviews with senior officials of the social partners as representatives of national level peak organisations in fifteen European countries .
As important industrial sectors , the metal industry and the banking sector were also included .
Key speakers at the social exclusion conference were ( left to right ) Cristina Louro , Employment , Industrial Relations and Social Affairs Directorate , European Commission Fernando Gomes , a high degree of Committee of the Regions Barbara Weiler , Member of the European Parliament José Maria Gil-Robles , Vice-President , European Parliament and John Carroll , Economic and Social Committee .