The document states that the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (now the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister ODPM) and the Welsh Assembly Government commissioned research in July 2001 to provide an evaluation of the main ‘Low-Cost Home Ownership’ (LCHO) programmes in England and Wales. The research has been undertaken over the period July 2001 to April 2002 by a team led by the School of Planning and Housing at Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University, in association with Three Dragons Consultancy and MORI. The Low-Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) programme has been an important mechanism for delivering a variety of government objectives since the 1980s. The programme has consisted of a number of schemes with differing characteristics and objectives. Through time the overall objectives of the programme have also evolved. Previous studies led by key members of our Research Team (eg Cousins et al 1993, Bramley et al 1995 and 1997, and Dunmore et al 1998) have highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the various schemes and the extent to which each represents value for money for consumers and for the government.