To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the National Audit Office’s Housing Market Renewal report; and if she will make a statement. (166236)

[holding answer 20 November 2007]: We note the main conclusions in the NAO report, that across the programme the pathfinders have been narrowing the gaps in house prices and vacancies with their regions, and that the pathfinder local authorities have been performing better than other local authorities with less severe problems of low demand not selected for the programme.