A report by a committee of the National Assembly for Wales expressed fears that there might be a shortfall in funding for new capital projects in 2008-09, including the building of new roads, schools, or hospitals.
Source: Draft Budget Proposals: 2008-09, Finance Committee/National Assembly for Wales (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | WLGA press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Dec
The Scottish Government (led for the first time by the Scottish National Party) announced a draft budget for 2008-09, and spending priorities for the three years to 2010-11. Council tax rates would be frozen: but a pledge to wipe out all student debts was abandoned.
Source: Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007, Scottish Government, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SG press release (1) | SG press release (2) | SG press release (3) | SG press release (4) | COSLA press release | CIH press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Community Care report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2007-Nov
The first budget was announced by the Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition Welsh Assembly Government. Total budgeted spending would be around £14.8 billion in 2008-09, £15.3 billion in 2009-10, and £15.7 billion in 2010-11. Health spending would rise from £5.69 billion to £6.01 billion over three years, an increase of £320 million. The local government grant would rise from £3.8 billion to £3.99 billion over three years, a 2.2 per cent rise.
Source: Draft Budget Proposals – 2008-09, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | NHS Wales press release | WLGA press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Comprehensive Spending Review. It said that the CSR had set a new benchmark for spending reviews in terms of 'wide-ranging and extensive' public engagement.
Source: The 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review: Prospects and Processes: Government Response to the Committee's Sixth Report, Seventh Special Report (Session 2006-07), HC 1027, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2007-Oct
A government report said that 'efficiency gains' of £20.2 billion had been made by central government departments by 2007-08 (during the period of the 2004 Spending Review) – just short of the target set under the Gershon Review.
Source: 2004 Spending Review: Efficiency Progress to June 2007, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs said that most of the efficiency savings of £13.3 billion claimed by the government since 2004 did not 'stand up to scrutiny'. Some savings claimed were 'not genuine', and some others had been 'achieved at the expense of the quality of the service'.
Source: The Efficiency Programme: A Second Review of Progress, Forty-eighth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 349, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | PCS press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | FT report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government published its 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review. Economic growth would slow from 3 per cent in 2007-08 to between 2 and 2.5 per cent in 2008-09. Public sector borrowing would rise by £4 billion in 2007-08, to £38 billion – but would then decline to £25 billion by 2011-12. The government said that it would adhere to its economic framework, including meeting the so-called 'golden rule' that existing spending and taxes should balance over the economic cycle as a whole. The overall growth of public spending would slow to 2 per cent per year over the period to 2010-11, compared with 4 per cent per year in the previous decade.
Source: Meeting the Aspirations of the British People: 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review, Cm 7227, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press releases | IFS press release | IPPR press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
A new book examined the long-term spending issues and constraints facing public services; the policy and delivery challenges across government; and how public spending reforms had fared so far.
Source: Colin Talbot and Matt Baker (eds.), The Alternative Comprehensive Spending Review, Manchester University Press (0161 275 2310)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Aug
The government published figures showing the provisional outturn for departmental expenditure limits and annually managed expenditure in 2006-07. Government departments had underspent by £7 billion.
Source: Public Expenditure 2006-2007: Provisional Outturn, Cm 7156, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that annual public expenditure per child in Northern Ireland was £287 – compared to £513 in Scotland, £429 in Wales, and £402 in England.
Source: Angela McGowan et al., An Analysis of Public Expenditure on Children in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (028 9031 1616) and Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | Summary | NICCY press release | CiNI press release
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined cost overruns in public sector capital procurement projects. The total net overrun for the 305 projects examined was over £23 billion.
Source: Beyond the Dome: Government projects £23 billion over budget, TaxPayers? Alliance (0845 330 9554)
Links: Report | TPA press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government had been too timid in taking forward the national debate on the comprehensive spending review, to which it had committed itself in March 2006. It made recommendations designed to enhance public involvement and to encourage a dialogue between the government and House of Commons select committees about public service agreements, and departmental strategic objectives.
Source: The 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review: Prospects and Processes, Sixth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 279, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined how the management of public sector budgets was meeting priorities across the Scottish Executive. Overall, the Executive was found to be 'well-run, forward-looking and seeking to learn and progress'.
Source: Choices for a Purpose: Review of Scottish Executive budgets, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2007-May
The 2007 edition of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) was published – an annual compendium of statistical data on public expenditure, covering both outturns and plans.
Source: Public Expenditure: Statistical Analyses 2007, Cm 7091, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | HMT press release
Date: 2007-Apr
Total managed public expenditure for 2005-06 was estimated at £523.4 billion, compared to £491.2 billion in 2004-05 - a rise of 6.6 per cent.
Source: Press release 21 March 2007, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: HMT press release
Date: 2007-Mar
The 2007 Budget report said that overall public spending would increase by 2 per cent (in real terms) in each year between 2007-08 and 2010-11. Education spending would rise by more than the average, at 2.4 per cent each year.
Source: Budget 2007: Building Britain's long-term future - Prosperity and fairness for families, Cm 342, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Budget Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press release | TUC press release | LGA press release | IFS press release | IPPR press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | FT report
Date: 2007-Mar
The International Monetary Fund said that macroeconomic performance in the United Kingdom remained 'impressive'. It welcomed the government's plans for fiscal consolidation: reducing the overall fiscal deficit would be essential to halt the increase in the ratio of net debt to national income.
Source: Press release 5 March 2007, International Monetary Fund (mailto:publicaffairs@imf.org)
Links: IMF press release | FT report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Mar
An audit report said that that nearly £10 billion out of a total of £13.3 billion claimed to have been saved by the government in efficiency improvements was open to question, because it could not be properly measured or was substantially incorrect.
Source: The Efficiency Programme: A second review of progress, HC 156 (Session 2006-07), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report part 1 | Report part 2 | NAO press release | PCS press release | CBI press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Feb