Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015: everything you need to know
The Spending Review and Autumn Statement are combined this year. Here's everything you need to know about this fiscal event.
The Spending Review sets out how the government spends taxpayers’ money
The Spending Review is a process that determines how the government will spend public money over the course of the Parliament.
On 25 November the government will publish the results of the Spending Review. This will set out how £4 trillion of taxpayers’ money will be spent on government departments and public services like the NHS and schools.
In the Spending Review the government decides budgets for each department, called departmental settlements
The departmental settlements are the amount the government has allocated to each department to spend over the Parliament. Things that departmental budgets can be spent on include the running of the services that they oversee such as schools or hospital, and the everyday cost of resources such as staff.
Find out more about the Treasury’s role in public spending, and different types of budgets in the how to understand government spending guide.
There is an Autumn Statement every year
The government updates their plans for the economy twice a year at Budget and Autumn Statement. The Autumn Statement usually happens in November or December. The Budget usually happens around March, ahead of the new financial year.
The Spending Review and Autumn Statement are combined this year
In September, the Chancellor wrote to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) asking them to publish a forecast on 25 November and making this a joint Spending Review and Autumn Statement.
There will be one speech, one document and one fiscal event on 25 November 2015.
The OBR was set up in 2010 to provide an independent analysis of the government’s finances and produces forecasts for the next five years twice a year – at Budget and at Autumn Statement.
On the day of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement, the Chancellor will give a speech to the House of Commons
As on the day of Budget, the Chancellor will give a speech to MPs in the House of Commons explaining how he’s spending the public’s money and present the Spending Review and Autumn Statement document to Parliament.