A report provided an analysis of the public finances in Scotland, estimating expenditure, revenue, and net borrowing. Special attention was given to 2004-05, the latest fiscal year for which outturns of expenditure and revenue were available for Scotland. In 2004-05, total expenditure for Scotland was estimated at £47.7 billion, or 9.7 per cent of the United Kingdom total.
Source: Government Expenditure & Revenue in Scotland 2004-2005, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Dec
An audit report examined progress on a 10-year investment programme to improve Northern Ireland s public infrastructure and address a backlog of investment.
Source: Reinvestment and Reform: Improving Northern Ireland's public infrastructure, HC 79 (Session 2006-07), Northern Ireland Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NIAO press release
Date: 2006-Dec
A think-tank report said it was clear that public spending was well above optimal levels. Furthermore, there was regional injustice, as large amounts of money were transferred from England to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - to the detriment of both donor and recipient.
Source: David Smith, Living with Leviathan: Public spending, taxes and economic performance, Institute of Economic Affairs (020 7799 8900)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Nov
A think-tank report said that the real level of government debt was £1,340 billion - nearly three times higher than the official figure of £486.7 billion - after taking into account the full costs of projects financed through the Private Finance Initiative, the extent of public sector pension liabilities, and debts incurred by Network Rail.
Source: Brooks Newmark MP and Stephen Hammond MP, Simply Red: The true state of the public finances, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: CPS press release
Date: 2006-Nov
The government said that all central government departments would be expected to make further 'efficiency savings' of 2.5 per cent per year over the period of the comprehensive spending review (2008-09 to 2010-11).
Source: Speech by Stephen Timms MP (Chief Secretary to the Treasury), 18 October 2006
Links: Text of speech | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Oct
The Welsh Assembly Government published a draft budget for 2007-08. The total budget was £14 billion, of which health and social services accounted for £5.5 billion, and local government £4.0 billion. The budget was voted down by Assembly members.
Source: Press release 17 October 2006, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111) | BBC report, 24 October 2006
Links: WAG press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2)
Date: 2006-Oct
A report examined the link between Scottish economic performance and post-devolution growth in public spending. It said that funding increases had been associated with low public sector productivity in recent years, which strongly suggested an adverse impact on overall economic growth. It also highlighted concerns about the sustainability of high levels of public sector funding.
Source: Richard Marsh and Fabian Zuleeg, The Scottish Public Sector: Does Size Matter?, David Hume Institute (0131 667 9609)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Sep
The Office for National Statistics announced changes to the measurement of public sector net debt to account for finance lease liabilities, mainly arising from private finance initiative (PFI) and public private partnership (PPP) projects. It estimated that the total liability under these leases was 4.95 billion at the end of March 2006, and had added this to its estimate of public sector net debt (PSND). About 85 per cent of this figure related to PFI and PPP projects. Estimates of PSND had been revised up for all years from 1987 to 2006.
Source: Adrian Chesson and Fenella Maitland-Smith, Including Finance Lease Liabilities in Public Sector Net Debt: PFI and Other, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | ONS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Sep
The Scottish Executive published a draft budget for 2007-08, outlining its spending plans for the year.
Source: Draft Budget 2007-08, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Sep
An interim report set out progress on both the implementation of the government's existing public spending efficiency programme and its strategy for achieving further savings over the period of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. It included a recommendation that public sector pay increases should be capped at 2 per cent per annum until 2011.
Source: Releasing the Resources to Meet the Challenges Ahead: Value for money in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, Cm 6889, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Hansard | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report said that parliament could improve its scrutiny of public finances. Parliamentary committees should make greater use of the time between the pre-Budget report and the main Budget to take evidence on the government s plans and feed its recommendations back to government; and parliament should become fully involved in the process leading up to the 2007 comprehensive spending review.
Source: Alex Brazier and Vidya Ram, The Fiscal Maze: Parliament, government and public money, Hansard Society (020 7955 7459)
Links: Hansard Society press release
Date: 2006-Jul
The government published a White Paper showing the provisional outturn for departmental expenditure limits and annually managed expenditure in 2005-06.
Source: Public Expenditure 2005 2006: Provisional Outturn, Cm 6883, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: White Paper | HMT press release
Date: 2006-Jul
An article described new measures to improve the quality of public expenditure data entering into the national accounts.
Source: 'Improving the quality of central government expenditure data', Economic Trends, June 2006, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article
Date: 2006-Jun
The government published an annual compendium of statistical data on public expenditure, covering both outturns and plans.
Source: Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2006, Cm 6811, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release
Date: 2006-May
The Welsh Assembly government published outline capital investment plans for Wales for the three years 2006-07 to 2008-09. Spending would rise from ?1,278 million in 2005-06 to ?1,692 million by 2008-09.
Source: Firm Foundations, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
A report said that public spending as a proportion of economic output across the regions in 2005-06 varied from 33.4 per cent in London to 71.3 per cent in Northern Ireland.
Source: Thushani Gajasinghe, Jonathan Said and Mark Pragnell, How Public Money is Spent in Each Region and Country of the UK, Centre for Economic and Business Research (020 7324 2850)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
Employment in the public sector rose by 62,000 in the year to December 2005, compared with an increase of 84,000 in the year to December 2004.
Source: Press release 7 April 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release
Date: 2006-Apr
An audit report said that government departments were generally making good progress in improving the quality of their accounts: but many of them still needed to make significant improvements. The reports on the accounts of two departments (Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions) were qualified in 2004-05, compared to four the previous year. There were "fundamental problems" with the Home Office's accounts.
Source: Financial Auditing and Reporting: General Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General 2004-05, HC 1015 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
In the calendar year 2005 general government net borrowing, as measured on the European Union Maastricht Treaty and Stability and Growth Pact bases, was provisionally estimated as 43.7 billion. This compared with net borrowing of 37.6 billion in 2004. Borrowing in 2005 was equivalent to 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with 3.2 per cent in 2004.
Source: Press release 31 March 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release
Date: 2006-Mar
New measures were proposed to improve the quality of official data on public expenditure, following concerns expressed in an independent review.
Source: Press release 16 March 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release
Date: 2006-Mar
The government announced a "year zero" comprehensive spending review in Northern Ireland, with no existing expenditure assumed to continue. This would enable funds to be redirected to health and education and other front-line services.
Source: Press release 31 January 2006, Northern Ireland Office (028 9052 0700)
Links: NIO press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A business organization proposed 'radically redesigning' the way public services were delivered, aimed at achieving £63 billion of savings by 2015-16. Proposals included: improving workforce management by adopting 'good private sector practice', including better management of staff sickness and temporarily freezing the public sector pay bill (saving £27 billion); allowing the private sector to provide non-core activities, such as back-room functions (saving £30 billion); and 'cutting waste' from within government (saving at least £16 billion). It said that pooling local authority budgets to avoid duplication of services could reap further savings.
Source: Doing More With Less: A credible strategy for restoring the public finances, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report | CBI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
At the end of December 2005 public sector net debt outstanding was 460.3 billion, equivalent to 37.2 per cent of gross domestic product (up from 35.2 per cent a year earlier).
Source: Public Sector Finances: December 2005, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034) and HM Treasury
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report examined public expenditure on children, and the extent to which spending was directed towards the poorest children. It focused on key sectors of public spending for children, including early years services, education, and personal social services.
Source: Tom Sefton, A Child's Portion: An analysis of public expenditure on children in the UK, Save the Children (020 7703 5400)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
The opposition Conservative Party announced plans designed to stabilize the public finances. It said that it would bring forward a rise in the age at which men could claim a state pension, to 66 from 2016 (10 years earlier than planned by the government). There would be a public sector pay freeze in 2011-12 (excluding frontline military personnel and people earning less than £18, 000 per annum). Child trust funds would be withdrawn for all except the lowest-income families, and tax credits would be withdrawn from families earning over £50, 000 per year. Cuts in government 'bureaucracy' would save £3 billion per year.
Source: Speech by George Osborne MP (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer), 6 October 2009
Links: Text of speech | Conservative Party press release | Labour Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | TUC press release | PCS press release | NASUWT press release | CPAG press release | CBI press release | AIC press release | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2) | Telegraph report (3) | People Management report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Local Government Chronicle report | Personnel Today report (1) | Personnel Today report (2) | Community Care report
Date: 2006-Jan
An article examined the output and distributional long-term effects of various fiscal policies. There were significant distributional effects associated with fiscal policies, indicating that an increase in public spending reduced inequality while a rise in indirect taxes increased income inequality.
Source: Xavier Ramos and Oriol Roca-Sagales, 'Long-term effects of fiscal policy on the size and distribution of the pie in the UK', Fiscal Studies, Volume 29 Issue 3, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
A think-tank report said that the government would have to raise taxes by 2.5 billion - the equivalent of about a penny on income tax - to get the public finances back on the path set out in the 2005 Budget.
Source: Laura Abramovsky et al., The IFS Green Budget, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
The government called on the official salary review bodies to freeze the pay of senior public servants (including senior civil servants, judges, senior National Health Service managers, and family doctors) in 2010-11. It also called for about 700, 000 middle-ranking public servants (including hospital doctors, dentists, and prison officers) to be given a rise of 0-1 per cent.
Source: Letter to Senior Salaries Review Body 5 October 2009, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: TUC press release | PCS press release | BMA press release | BBC report | Pulse report | People Management report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report examined the impact of introducing resource accounting in the Northern Ireland public sector.
Source: Ciaran Connolly and Noel Hyndman, The Impact of Resource Accounting in the Northern Ireland Public Sector, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (0141 582 2000)
Date: 2006-Jan
The opposition Conservative Party announced that it was abandoning its policy of pledging to match the existing government's spending plans if elected.
Source: Speech by David Cameron MP (Leader of Conservative Party), 18 November 2008
Links: Text of speech | CBI press release | TPA press release | FT report | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report said that by 2007-08 £26.5 billion of annual efficiency gains in public spending had been achieved, against a target of £21.5 billion set out in the 2004 Spending Review (based on the recommendations of the Gershon Report). There had been a net workforce reduction of over 86,700 against a target of 70,600.
Source: 2004 Spending Review: Final Report on the Efficiency Programme, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
An audit report said that the 'wider markets initiative' could provide real gains to the public sector: where undertaken, new activities under the initiative were working well. (The initiative encourages the public sector to make fuller use of core public assets in an enterprising way, developing and selling new goods and services.)
Source: The Wider Markets Initiative, HC 799 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A think-tank report said that, since 1997, there had been a shift in the use and application of national lottery funds: the 'good causes' had become politicized and used increasingly to fund matters that should be funded by the taxpayer.
Source: Ruth Lea, The Larceny of the Lottery Fund, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan