Darling pre-Budget report avoids frontline cuts

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Darling pre-Budget report avoids frontline cuts

9/12/09 5:51 pm By Richard Heap

Chancellor Alistair Darling sidestepped big cuts to frontline services in the pre-Budget report earlier today.

Darling revealed the pre-Budget report in the House of Commons today said that the government would stick to its budgets for departmental spending for the 2010/11 financial year. Instead, he spelled out £5bn of cuts to public sector spending programmes and by making back office processes more efficient.

Here are the key points from the pre-Budget report for property managers in the public sector:

Government to save £340m by cutting New Deal for Communities and prioritising regeneration schemes based on their value for money.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families would have to find savings worth £350m from central budgets, efficiency savings, and from reviewing programmes to identify the most useful.
A 1% cap on public sector pay settlements in 2011/12 and 2012/13, to deliver £3.4bn savings in 2012/13. It also announced reforms to public sector pensions that are estimated to save it £1bn a year.
It said the 2010 Budget would set out £15bn-£20bn of savings across the NHS.
The creation of new quango Infrastructure UK to help drive private sector investment into infrastructure schemes. The body is to deliver a plan to deliver infrastructure in the next 50 years at the 2010 Budget.
It also said investment would continue in Crossrail, Thameslink and £400m improvements to the M1 motorway where work is due to start this month.
Encourage local authorities to bring forward more land for housing developments.

It referred to £12bn cuts identified in the white paper “Putting the frontline first” that the government published on Monday (“Gordon Brown sets out £3bn extra savings”, publicpropertyuk.com, 07.12.09).