By Richard Johnstone | 14 June 2013
Another six Whitehall departments, including the Home Office, have reached agreement with the Treasury on spending cuts for 2015/16 ahead of the June 26 Spending Review, it has been announced.
Image: William Barton / Shutterstock
The deals will take the total number of agreed revenue spending settlements to 13. The other departments are Rural Affairs, Culture, Media & Sport, Law Officers and the Scotland and Wales offices.
Last month, it was announced that seven departments had agreed to extra funding cuts of 8%–10% in 2015/16. Today’s provisional deals include reductions of around 8%, the Treasury said.
In total, the six departments will contribute £1.1bn to the £11.5bn total savings required in the review. Added to the reductions already announced, £3.6bn of the total has already been found.
Details for ten departments remain to be settled, along with Whitehall’s funding allocation to councils. These will be published on the day of the announcement, which will also include information on the allocation of the extra £3bn that was switched to capital spending. This was announced by Osborne in the Budget in March, and departmental capital allocations are undergoing a separate, zero-based review.
The Home Office’s deal includes protection to funding for the police’s counter terrorism capabilities in 2015/16, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said.
‘Today’s provisional settlements show we continue to make real progress towards the savings we need while protecting priority areas. Counter terrorism policing is a crucial part of our national security and I took no convincing of the need to protect this area. Given recent events in Woolwich, we cannot compromise on our national security.
‘None of the spending choices we make are easy, but ensuring the UK can pay its way in the world is vital to our long-term prosperity. Settling over half of departments with two weeks to go shows how committed the whole of government is to dealing with the deficit.’
