Comprehensive Spending Review
The Comprehensive Spending Review looks at all government spending, across every department. It is an 18-month process, going up to July 2007.
When the Cabinet finally reaches its conclusions on the Review, they will determine the pattern of government spending for the following three years, and be a major influence on spending in the years after that.
Spending money is obviously one of the key ways in which the Government gives effect to its priorities. At the SDC, we are concerned that the importance of sustainable development is reflected in spending allocations, and will be providing advice as to how we think that can most effectively be done.
The Review ranges even more widely than might be assumed – because in looking at spending, the Government has to compare spending money with other ways it might go about achieving its objectives, such as taxation, regulation, and new laws. The Comprehensive Spending Review will therefore look not only at spending, but also at other ways of going about things. This makes it pretty much a review of the whole of government and public sector activity.
Key issues within this from our point of view include –
• Energy Policy. Is subsidising nuclear the best way of ensuring an environmentally sustainable energy supply?
• New buildings. Are new government-funded buildings, such as schools and hospitals, being built to high sustainability standards which will pay off in the long run?
• Transport. Does the current pattern of subsidising long-range aviation whilst letting many local street environments run down and become centres for crime and vandalism make sense when there is a need to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions and curb anti-social behaviour?
SDC intends to publish a report contributing our views to the Review in June 2006, and the Treasury are expected to publish their conclusions from the Review’s first stage in July 2006.
To see what the Treasury are saying about the Review go to:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spending_review/spend_csr07/spend_csr07_index.cfm
If you have questions about the work of the SDC in this area or would like to contribute, please contact Victor Anderson (Policy Analyst).
