While there is some good immediate good news for further education and social housing, the FT is warning of "one of the longest and sustained squeezes on departmental spending since the second world war" with real terms reductions".
From April 2011, current spending will rise by only 0.7 per cent in real terms - a li ttle more than half the plans for 1.2% growth announced five months ago in the pre-Budget report.
KPMG are warning against false optimism:
The message for the public sector is stark. All public sector organisations need to take a cold, hard look at where they spend their money and make difficult choices about priorities; they need to implement radical new approaches in the delivery of public services.
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Budget: Good news for colleges shock
As well as £250m in extra funding for Sixth Forms, the Budget Report has tucked away on page 120 some good news on helping to resolve the Building Colleges for the Future crisis:
The 2008 Pre-Budget Report brought forward £442 million in total from 2010-11 to 2008-09 and 2009-10 to accelerate the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) Building Colleges for the Future programme, to support Higher Education (HE) building projects and to bring forward the development of scientific research facilities and improvements to universityresearch infrastructure. In 2008-09, over 100 Further Education (FE) college building projects were completed as a result of nearly £550 million of investment, of which £110 million had been brought forward as part of the fiscal stimulus. Building on this, Budget 2009 announces an additional £300 million of capital funding for investment in Further Education colleges in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period. This will enable the Learning and Skills Council to fund a limited number of further projects through the Building Colleges for the Future programme starting in 2009-10, based on prioritisation criteria to be agreed with the LSC and the sector.
The 2008 Pre-Budget Report brought forward £442 million in total from 2010-11 to 2008-09 and 2009-10 to accelerate the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) Building Colleges for the Future programme, to support Higher Education (HE) building projects and to bring forward the development of scientific research facilities and improvements to universityresearch infrastructure. In 2008-09, over 100 Further Education (FE) college building projects were completed as a result of nearly £550 million of investment, of which £110 million had been brought forward as part of the fiscal stimulus. Building on this, Budget 2009 announces an additional £300 million of capital funding for investment in Further Education colleges in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period. This will enable the Learning and Skills Council to fund a limited number of further projects through the Building Colleges for the Future programme starting in 2009-10, based on prioritisation criteria to be agreed with the LSC and the sector.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Balancing the books – efficiencies, no-frills and co-payment
According to the media today, Wednesday’s budget will include £15billion of efficiency gains in 2010/11 to assist in balancing the public sector’s books. While any impetus to get more out of public spending is welcome, we need to remember that there are allsorts of issues with how efficiencies are measured. Moreover, if it is not possible to get “more for less”, we will all get “less for less” – the kinds of cuts seen so often through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Perhaps “no-frills” public services are inevitable – even if they are no one will admit it this side of an election. One thing that I am fairly sure about is that we will see more “co-payment” – that’s the jargon for users paying something towards the cost of services. (There was discussion of this as part of the Blairist approach to public service reform but it largely faded away with the arrival of Brownism - apart from in the NHS where the issue developed its own momentum due to NICE decisions.) We’ve got co-payment in higher education already. Where next? Or rather, where after the next election?
Perhaps “no-frills” public services are inevitable – even if they are no one will admit it this side of an election. One thing that I am fairly sure about is that we will see more “co-payment” – that’s the jargon for users paying something towards the cost of services. (There was discussion of this as part of the Blairist approach to public service reform but it largely faded away with the arrival of Brownism - apart from in the NHS where the issue developed its own momentum due to NICE decisions.) We’ve got co-payment in higher education already. Where next? Or rather, where after the next election?
Friday, March 16, 2007
The budget - the real story for public services
Wednesday's budget will be a budget for business according to Gordon Brown in the Financial Times today.
It'll be a budget for social policy - education, families and welfare to work schemes - according to a Brown ally, John McFall, on ePolitix today. (The ePolitix podcast is notable also for its dropped plastic cup, the rustling of papers and the emergency services sirens in the background.)
The certainty is that the real event is the Comprehensive Spending Review - with a tightening of public spending constraints and a greater expectation that public services will have to deliver "more for less" through efficiencies.
It'll be a budget for social policy - education, families and welfare to work schemes - according to a Brown ally, John McFall, on ePolitix today. (The ePolitix podcast is notable also for its dropped plastic cup, the rustling of papers and the emergency services sirens in the background.)
The certainty is that the real event is the Comprehensive Spending Review - with a tightening of public spending constraints and a greater expectation that public services will have to deliver "more for less" through efficiencies.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Spend, spend, spend? Or a slow squeeze on public services?
The future levels of public expenditure seemed to be rather overlooked in the media coverage about the Pre Budget Report.
Sometimes the analysis was just wrong - like Kevin Maguire's comments in the Daily Mirror on Gordon Brown's strategy: "His masterplan is to spend, spend, spend on public services then force the Tories into a corner as the party of cuts."
The real story - not just of the PBR but before too - is that the time of (relative) famine for the public sector is arriving. It might not seem like it to many in the public sector but we've had the years of plenty - and they are coming to an end.
The most considered analysis can be found from the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies. Their immediate review of the PBR stated:
"The weakness of the underlying public finance forecasts suggests there will be no let up in Mr Brown's tough spending negotiations with Whitehall departments. In addition to sticking with his Budget assumption that public spending (excluding investment) will grow by just 1.9 percent a year on top of inflation over the three years of the forthcoming comprehensive spending review, the Chancellor pencilled in another year of spending growth at the same rate in 2011/12. This suggests that Mr Brown is ready to fight the next election presiding over a steady fall in public spending as a share of national income. This did not stop him from attacking the Conservatives for proposing the same thing as a long-term goal.
Real increases of 1.9% sound impressive - but in recent years real increases have been about twice that!
On the IFS website there are several Powerpoint slides on issues around the PBR including one on public spending.
The IFS's expert suggests:
"Spending plans could prove incompatible with aspirations. Plans could be subsequently topped up, but would require additional finance"
What can be done by those managing public services caught between the rock of tightening resources and the hard place of government targets and aspirations? One approach can be seen in the NHS with training budgets being cut. That may not be too healthy in the long term.
As well as the efforts to trim administration and save on procurement, perhaps more thought should be given to streamlining processes so that they focus more better on delivering customer satisfaction and outcomes. Research by the ODPM shows how effective this can be the field of housing.
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Sometimes the analysis was just wrong - like Kevin Maguire's comments in the Daily Mirror on Gordon Brown's strategy: "His masterplan is to spend, spend, spend on public services then force the Tories into a corner as the party of cuts."
The real story - not just of the PBR but before too - is that the time of (relative) famine for the public sector is arriving. It might not seem like it to many in the public sector but we've had the years of plenty - and they are coming to an end.
The most considered analysis can be found from the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies. Their immediate review of the PBR stated:
"The weakness of the underlying public finance forecasts suggests there will be no let up in Mr Brown's tough spending negotiations with Whitehall departments. In addition to sticking with his Budget assumption that public spending (excluding investment) will grow by just 1.9 percent a year on top of inflation over the three years of the forthcoming comprehensive spending review, the Chancellor pencilled in another year of spending growth at the same rate in 2011/12. This suggests that Mr Brown is ready to fight the next election presiding over a steady fall in public spending as a share of national income. This did not stop him from attacking the Conservatives for proposing the same thing as a long-term goal.
Real increases of 1.9% sound impressive - but in recent years real increases have been about twice that!
On the IFS website there are several Powerpoint slides on issues around the PBR including one on public spending.
The IFS's expert suggests:
"Spending plans could prove incompatible with aspirations. Plans could be subsequently topped up, but would require additional finance"
What can be done by those managing public services caught between the rock of tightening resources and the hard place of government targets and aspirations? One approach can be seen in the NHS with training budgets being cut. That may not be too healthy in the long term.
As well as the efforts to trim administration and save on procurement, perhaps more thought should be given to streamlining processes so that they focus more better on delivering customer satisfaction and outcomes. Research by the ODPM shows how effective this can be the field of housing.
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