The 2007 comprehensive spending review

The 2007 comprehensive spending review
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2007-12-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780215037589

This report is in five main sections: overall spending issues; efficiency and value for money; the new performance management framework; child poverty; and individual spending settlements. The planned rate of growth of public spending is set to be considerably slower than the rate of growth of recent years. This could lead to cost pressures on departmental spending as there will be a greater proportional growth in the Annual Managed Expenditure. There will also be cost pressures from public sector wage settlements, population growth and needs in particular sectors. The efficiency programmes are highly ambitious but the Committee recommends that savings should only be recorded if it could be shown that service standards have been maintained. There is a welcome for the decision not to impose explicit targets for reduction in Civil Service numbers. On child poverty the Committee note a possible tension between the target to halve child poverty by 2010-11 and that of eliminating child poverty by 2020. There is a concern that the Government has drawn back from a whole-hearted commitment to meet the 2010 target. They want the Government to either initiate a debate on the trade-off between the two targets or rededicate itself to the 2010-11 target, making it clear that the resources are available within the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Progress in Improving Government Efficiency

Progress in Improving Government Efficiency
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2006-02-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0102937087

Government departments have been set targets for implementing efficiency gains of £21.5 billion a year by 2007-08, as part of the Treasury's Efficiency Programme following on from the recommendations of the Gershon Review of public sector efficiency (available at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./spending_review/spend_sr04/associated_documents/spending_sr04_efficiency.cfm) published in July 2004. This NAO report examines the progress made towards improving efficiency and highlights examples of good practice from which departments and the wider public sector can learn. A companion volume of case studies is available separately (HCP 802-II, session 2005-06, ISBN 0102937095). The report finds that good progress is being made towards achieving the £21.5 billion target and departments are managing their efficiency programmes well. However, some caution is needed in assessing the gains reported so far (due to the time lags in reporting of data and limitations in measurement methodologies) and therefore these should be considered provisional and subject to further verification. Six key areas are highlighted for future improvements in public sector efficiency, including in relation to strategic leadership, staff expertise and greater collaboration to share good practice across the public sector.

The Way the Money Goes

The Way the Money Goes
Author: Christopher Hood
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2023-10-19
Genre:
ISBN: 0198865082

The Way the Money Goes traces out what happened to the UK's fiscal constitution - the framework for planning and controlling public spending - under three different governments (Conservative, Labour, Conservative/Liberal Democrat) from the early 1990s to the mid-2010s. The book tells the story of what happened under each government and combines narrative with vignettes that range from the funding of a new Treasury building to efforts to 'crowdsource' ideas for spending cuts. It also includes chapters devoted to different domains of spending control, namely capital spending, spending by subnational governments, running cost expenditure, fiscal forecasting, and the development of new accounting metrics. This book is based on over 120 in-depth interviews of civil servants and ministers who were involved in public spending over the period, as well as documents from the same timeframe. It explores how and why, despite much talk of change and reform in everything from parliamentary procedure to bureaucratic processes, many of the underlying features of the UK's fiscal constitution persisted, including arrangements for formula-funding of the different countries within the union designed as a temporary stopgap in the transition to devolution. To put UK developments into perspective, the book includes a discussion of how the UK system was rated in reports from international bodies over the period, which suggests that in such exercises the more 'political' parts of the fiscal constitution were rated differently from the more 'technocratic' parts. Given several volcanic-type political eruptions in the UK over recent years, the book concludes by exploring some different possible scenarios for the future of its fiscal constitution in the light of those and other possible eruptions to come.

The 2005 Pre-budget Report

The 2005 Pre-budget Report
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2006-01-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0215027078

The Committee's report examines the Government's Pre-Budget Report 2005 (Cm. 6701, ISBN 0101670125) published in December 2005. Issues discussed include: the state of the economy (including the UK Presidency of the G8, UK economic growth estimates for 2006 and beyond, and consumer spending) and public finance matters; as well as issues relating to taxation and pensions. Recommendations made include that the Treasury should give at least four weeks notice of the date of the Pre-Budget Report in order to enable sufficient parliamentary scrutiny, and if this target is not met, the Treasury should give an account of the reasons why.

Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2005

Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2005
Author: Great Britain: H.M. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780101652124

This compendium brings together recent outturn data, estimated outturns for the latest year and spending plans over the whole range of UK public expenditure. It includes data for expenditure for central government, local government and public corporations, as well as an analysis of public expenditure by country and region. Analyses generally cover the nine years 1999-2000 to 2007-08, with some series presented over a longer time period. It is published annually, normally alongside the main supply estimates and supplementary budget information.

The English Question

The English Question
Author: Robert Hazell
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2006-08-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780719073694

This work asks whether England needs to find its own political voice, following devolution to Scotland and Wales. It explains the different formulations of the 'English question', and sets the answers in a historical and constitutional context.

Budget 2005

Budget 2005
Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780102932485

The Budget presents an updated assessment of the economy and public finances and reports on Government policies. It: shows that the economy is growing strongly and the Government is meeting its fiscal rules; announces a long-term investment programme for schools and sets out further measures to help young people develop skills; sets out reform to reduce the regulatory burden on business; announces free local travel for people over 60 and provide £200 towards the council tax bill for those over 65; makes a commitment to increase Child Tax Credit in line with earnings; doubles the threshold for stamp duty; increases the special reserve for military operations; announces a better targeted Local Enterprise Growth Initiative; introduces measures to modernise the tax system; defers any increase in fuel duty until September 2005.

The 2007 budget

The 2007 budget
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 72
Release: 2007-04-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215033680

This report is in four main sections: the first looks at the state of the economy, the second examines public finances, the third covers tax measure s, and the fourth miscellaneous issues such as the Girshon programme of efficiency savings and the Comprehensive Spending Review. It is based on evidence sessions: from outside experts, Treasury officials, and the Chancellor as well as written submissions and is published before the Second Reading of the Finance Bill..

Budget 2006

Budget 2006
Author: Great Britain. Treasury
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2006-03-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0102937311

The Budget sets out the Government's plans for taxation, public spending and economic growth for the coming year. Details announced include: an annual growth rate of 2.5 per cent for 2006-07 with a forecast of 2.75 to 3.25 per cent for 2007-08; an inflation rate of two per cent this year; and public sector borrowing on course for a £16bn surplus over the economic cycle ending in 2010-11, with net borrowing set at £37 billion for this year and £36 billion next year, falling to £23 billion in the year to 2010-11. Measures announced in the 2006 Budget include: i) the climate change levy to be indexed in line with inflation from 2007, a new vehicle excise duty rate of £210 for the least fuel efficient cars (4x4 cars or SUVs) and the establishment of a new £1bn energy and environmental research institute funded by government and private industry; ii) measures to help to single parents into work and tackle child poverty including an increase in child benefit, child tax credit and childcare vouchers and a top-up to child trust fund accounts at the age of seven; iii) an increase in duty of nine pence on cigarettes and one pence on beer, with a freeze in duty on whisky and other spirits; iv) the exemption on stamp duty raised to £125,000 and a rise in the level of inheritance tax from £275,000 to £325,000; v) the level of investment in schools to rise from £5.6 billion to £8 billion a year; vi) free off peak national bus travel for pensioners in every part of the country; and vii) funding, in partnership with commercial sponsorship, to support top athletes to prepare for the 2012 Olympics.

Soft Machines

Soft Machines
Author: Richard Anthony Lewis Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2004
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0198528558

Enthusiasts look forward to a time when tiny machines reassemble matter and process information but is their vision realistic? 'Soft Machines' explains why the nanoworld is so different to the macro-world that we are all familar with and shows how it has more in common with biology than conventional engineering.