To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the extent to which (a) the provision of guidance and (b) sharing good practice has contributed to the development of local sustainability plans in New Deal for Communities areas. (271639)

It is too early to make an assessment of the contribution that guidance and shared good practice from the New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme is making to the development of local sustainability plans in NDC areas.

It was always the intention that the improvements to NDC residents would be delivered in a way that could be sustained beyond Government funding and into the long term. The Department has issued various guidance notes which relate to succession throughout the programme, most recently comprehensive succession guidance on 4 December 2008. This was launched at a conference attended by NDCs and local authorities, which was designed to assist them with preparing long term succession strategies to ensure that the benefits and improvements made to the areas can be sustained.