To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the introduction of the local housing allowance; and what assessment he has made of the impact of its introduction on residents in rural areas. (150705)

Local housing allowance (LHA) will be introduced nationally from 7 April 2008 and the preparation for its implementation is under way in all local authorities. It has been extensively evaluated in nine pathfinder areas and tested for operational readiness in a further nine. These local authorities were chosen to provide a range of different housing markets, geographical factors and labour markets.

One of the pathfinders, Teignbridge, is largely a rural area. As in the other eight evaluated LHA pathfinder areas, the implementation and delivery in Teignbridge was considered successful and the impact of the local housing allowance is covered in the local housing allowance evaluation publications.