First in: Five govt departments decide spending cuts
By politics.co.uk staff
The first five government departments to decide their spending cuts with the Treasury have been granted a place in the ‘star chamber’.
The government confirmed that the Treasury, Cabinet Office, Foreign Office, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Communities and Local Government department (DCLG) have reached a spending agreement.
That means Eric Pickles, local government secretary, and Caroline Spelman, environment secretary, will sit on the committee ruling on departments struggling to cut costs.
The deal is reported to be provisional, and relate only to resource spending, as opposed to capital spending – which is decided later.
Housing and regeneration projects are expected to be the main casualty of cuts at the DCLG.
Most government departments have to provide the Treasury with a plan for cutting spending by 25% ahead of the comprehensive spending review.
Chancellor George Osborne will outline the results on October 20th.
