Government projects aimed at tackling social exclusion are failing to deliver "joined-up" government, a think tank has warned.

National and local initiatives aimed at rebuilding disadvantaged areas are not using multi-agency working practices despite facing key problems that cut across government departments.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation urged central government to improve the level of co-operation across Whitehall.

Regeneration projects often involve education, health, welfare and planning issues which require action from government departments.

The report, released on Thursday, urged departments to cut different performance monitoring and auditing requirements that add unnecessary burdens on local partnerships.

Giving greater freedom to those responsible for delivering front-line services would enable them to adapt better to problems specific to that area, researchers advised.

The report praised the example of the Jobcentre Plus programme which was given greater local input in this year's Budget.

"National government has a key role to play in developing more effective joint working by requiring its own departments to work together more closely in a transparent way," said the report's author Professor Alan McGregor.

"But the greatest contribution it could probably make would be to stop the introduction of new initiatives and its constant tinkering with the rules for existing programmes, so that local organisations and local staff working for national agencies have the time to build stable working relationships with each other."