ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

As a result, the ODPM is to review the way it gathers the housing data used by the nine boards to draw up the plans.

An ODPM spokesman said: "We are studying whether the remit of collection needs to be looked at again – if we need to widen the approach."

Some boards – it is not known which – will need to do more research to make their strategies more comprehensive.

The boards submitted investment strategies to the ODPM at the end of July. The strategies set out how they plan to spend the new single pot for housing for the next two years.

The data the boards used was taken mainly from local housing returns gathered by the government as part of the housing investment programme and collated by the ODPM.

More work is needed on fair access to housing, supported housing and housing for specific groups

Peter Campey, Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber

But officials from the regional housing boards said the information does not meet their needs. David Cumberland, a regeneration consultant who worked on the investment strategies for two regional housing boards, said: "There are huge gaps in the evidence base. For example, there is no evidence on a range of specific housing needs."

Another senior housing source said: "The worst kind of investment strategy statements just identify what's wrong in the region without saying what they are going to do about it. More research work is needed."

Peter Campey, joint head of housing for the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, agreed: "We need to do further research. More work is needed on fair access to housing, supported housing, housing for specific groups."

But Cumberland said it was difficult for the regional boards to find funding for new research: "There are no resources for data collection readily available in the regions. The government office is in charge but has no specific budget. Most of our research came from informal partnerships we'd undertaken."