ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the comprehensive spending review.

The comprehensive spending review (CSR) represents a long-term and fundamental review of government expenditure. It will also cover departmental allocations for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Coming 10 years after the first CSR, the 2007 version will aim to identify what investments and reforms are needed for the UK to be able to face upcoming international challenges and remain economically competitive.

Education

Stakeholder response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL)

ATL general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, said: "This is a crucial time for pay. 

"The government wants to keep young people in education or training until 18, so will need more staff. 

"There is already a shortage of people wanting to be heads, and the teaching profession is an ageing one, with many due to retire over the next couple of years. 

"It would be a particularly bad time to risk a shortage of teaching staff, put off by stagnating wages."

"One million places have been lost in adult education over the last two years. 

"This is not the way to improve skills in the UK. 

"We need places for people who want to up-skill or re-skill so that they can get jobs, and to help migrants learn English so they can integrate better and find work."

"All schools need to be fit for purpose, so the rebuilding and refurbishment of UK schools needs to continue. But there needs to be more involvement of teachers and pupils to ensure the buildings are suitable for those who use them."

"With an ageing population, we need to be training new teachers. We can't afford to lose their potential because they don't have the money to train."

Transport

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A spokesman said:

"That the Chancellors spending statement did, at least, provide long term commitment to funding transport infrastructure at a rate of two and one quarter per cent above inflation until 2018.

"However, that rate is no more than the current commitment and the Chancellor said that the Crossrail project would also be funded from this same source thus reducing availability for other essential projects.

"The statement also referred to the recommendations of Sir Rod Eddington in respect of future investment in roads.

"FTA is disappointed that there is apparently little prospect of substantial investment in the short term future and, consequently, freight’s day to day operation seems doomed to continue to experience further congestion on an increasingly worn out roads network."

Stakeholder response: The Construction Products Association

To send a comment to the Construction Products Association , click hereAllan Wilén, economics director at the Construction Products Association said:

"We are pleased that the chancellor appears to have listened to the construction products industry and taken action on key programme areas where previous investment has been slow to come into effect. 

"It is now imperative that the spending departments set out a clear investment programme to deliver much needed improvements to the built environment. 

"We are particularly encouraged by the long term commitment to improve the transport infrastructure, raising investment by 2.25 per cent in real terms, every year until 2018/19. 

"Given this commitment, the Department for Transport should now publish a clear investment strategy for the road and rail systems that will tackle congestion and safeguard the UK's competitiveness." 

Housing

Stakeholder response: The Construction Products Association

To send a comment to the Construction Products Association , click here

Allan Wilén, economics director at the Construction Products Association said: "Housing accounts for over a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse emissions. 

"The Association is therefore disappointed that the chancellor failed to take any action to tackle the energy performance of existing housing stock. 

"We have proposed that households undertaking improvements which raise the energy performance of their home by one or two bands should be entitled to either a partial stamp duty rebate or a three-year discount on their council tax. 

"This solution focuses on the ultimate objective of raising the energy performance of the home. " 

Social care

Stakeholder response: Age Concern

Age Concern's director-general, Gordon Lishman, said: "Age Concern England welcomes the government's commitment to address the growing crisis in social care. We are delighted the government has listened to Age Concern and others - recognising the need for public consultation on this issue followed by a green paper.

"Increasing investment by £190m to £1.5bn by 2010-11 will allow the current system to creak on in the short-term. The national roll-out of the trial Partnership for Older People’s Projects will help many older people stay independent for longer.

"Fundamental reform and significant further investment over the next decade is clearly required but this is a vital first step in the right direction."

"Darling has dealt an ace card on the critical issue of care but a poor hand to many of the most disadvantaged pensioners who will see nothing new to help them."

Stakeholder response: Help the Aged

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Help the Aged spokesperson Mervyn Kohler comments: "The comprehensive spending review was launched brightly with the promise, as one of its five cross-cutting themes, that it would reflect the challenges of an ageing population.  

"Little seems to have survived of that spark of light.

"The evidence of failure in our social care system has grown remorselessly since the spending review commenced, but in the three year programme announced today, not enough has promised to ensure decent care in older age for the poorest pensioners. 

"On first glance, the settlement offered to local authorities will simply not be enough to ensure the gaps in social care funding can be properly filled.

"The announcement of further increases in NHS funding are to be welcomed: it is important that this should take account of the needs of older people who make up such a large proportion of health service patients. 

"Help the Aged will be watching closely to ensure that the NHS improves the treatment and services older people receive. 

"For example, the increased spending on health research must be used to ensure that the illnesses of older age receive the attention they deserve.

"Funding of government priorities in this comprehensive spending review and pre-Budget report is tight. 

"There simply isn't enough in the chancellor's statement to take account of the growing needs of an ageing population nor to tackle the fact that a fifth of pensioners currently live in poverty. 

"The predicted increase in pension credit merely reinforces the regrettable reliance on means-tested benefits which shapes the lives of too many older people."


Planning and infrastructure:

Stakeholder response: The Construction Products Association

To send a comment to the Construction Products Association , click here

Allan Wilén, economics director at the Construction Products Association said: "We are pleased that the chancellor appears to have listened to the construction products industry and taken action on key programme areas where previous investment has been slow to come into effect. 

"It is now imperative that the spending departments set out a clear investment programme to deliver much needed improvements to the built environment. 

"We welcome the reaffirmed commitments to sustained investment in health and education facilities. 

"The Department for Children, Schools and Families will now need to accelerate the delivery of its school investment programmes whilst we believe that a priority for the Department of Health over the next three years should be tackling the £3.7bn repair backlog on the NHS estate. 
 
"We welcome the chancellor’s announcement that Planning Gain Supplement will not now go ahead as originally proposed. 

"However, we will be looking closely to assess the potential impact of the alternative system of planning charges being proposed by the government."

Stakeholder Response: United Response

Stakeholder Response: United Response

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"Su Sayer, chief executive of learning disability and mental health charity United Response, welcomes plans announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) to focus greater attention on the needs of vulnerable adults for settled accommodation, employment, education and training. 

"The new Public Service Agreement for socially excluded adults (announced by the Social Exclusion Task Force yesterday) identifies adults with severe mental health needs and adults with moderate to severe learning disabilities as key groups for additional support in a way it hasn’t done before.

"However, United Response is concerned that the planned cuts to the budget of the Department of Work and Pensions may further marginalise employment support services for adults with learning disabilities.

"Provision of employment support for people with learning disabilities is patchy and accorded low priority, despite the huge benefits which employment can provide both in terms of reducing social exclusion and people's dependence on welfare benefits.

"We hope the focus on vulnerable adults in new Public Service Agreement will mean that these vital services will be given a boost.

"We are also concerned that the increase in the budget for adult social care announced in the CSR is too low to ensure that all vulnerable adults receive decent care services.

"As the Commission for Social Care Inspection has warned, social care is already being severely rationed in many parts of the country so that only those with the most acute needs receive support, whilst those with moderate needs sometimes receive nothing at all.

"The level of the increase in the budget falls far below that projected by Wanless Social Care Review to allow for growing demands for funding, particularly with an ageing population."


Charity

Stakeholder response: Charity Commission

To send a comment to The Charity Commission , click here

Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind said: "Meeting the new responsibilities of the Charities Act 2006, and continuing to deliver on our strategic priorities, within a resource budget which will be reducing by five per cent a year, will of course be a tough challenge. 

"We have already begun to develop our plans to do this and have undertaken a careful and detailed review of our priorities and ways of working. 

"Now that the position has been confirmed, we will be moving forward rapidly to confirm our plans.

"However, I am pleased that the settlement acknowledges the Commission's additional responsibilities in implementing the Charities Act, and our plans to build our capacity for tackling terrorist links to charities and promoting public trust and confidence in charities. 

"Similarly, we acknowledge the continuing need for government departments to improve their efficiency and deliver savings to the public purse. 

"In this context, we are confident that we can deliver against our core responsibilities over the next three years.

"We remain committed to implementing all aspects of the Act that fall to us, in full, including those provisions regarding the licensing of public charitable collections.

"While there is no specific allocation in the Commission's settlement for licensing public charitable collections, we are in positive discussions with OTS and the Treasury over the necessary and available resources for developing a satisfactory way of implementing this aspect of the Act.

"I am pleased that in making this announcement, the chief secretary specifically recognised the excellent work of the Commission in supporting and regulating the charitable sector, and the extent to which we have already increased our efficiency and effectiveness. This is a positive endorsement of our strategy and of the hard work and commitment of our staff in delivering it."

Other

Party response: Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat shadow Defra secretary, Chris Huhne MP said: "The change in the basis of air taxes from passengers to flights is a step in the right direction as it will encourage airlines to fly full. Liberal Democrats have argued for an emissions-based tax since 2004.

"Any notion that Gordon Brown has gone green will be dispelled by the failure of the Defra budget to even keep pace with the projected growth of the economy, despite a crying need for flood defences and energy-saving measures.

"Given the appalling floods in the summer, this is a settlement for Defra and the Environment Agency that reeks of false economies which future flood victims will bitterly regret.

"It also risks provoking the insurance companies into reviewing their long-standing commitment to provide cover.

"The energy-saving measures at home are also feeble, as there is only a commitment to a cash rise for low-income households, which will not keep up with inflation.

"With each UK household spending £385 a year more on average than a Swedish household on energy, this is complete folly.

"The commitment to an environmental transformation fund and other pledges are offset by £379m a year of efficiency savings that have not yet been identified.

"This is a triumph of hope over experience and may lead to a further substantial squeeze on Defra’s budget."

Stakeholder response: Association of British Insurers (ABI)

To send a comment to ABI click here

Commenting today in response to the government's CSR on flood defence spending, Stephen Haddrill, the ABI’s director-general, said: "The insurance industry is helping tens of thousands of people affected by flooding this summer, but the government has now failed to play its part. 

"Millions of homeowners and businesses around the country have been let down by the government’s failure to commit sufficient money to new and improved flood defences.
 
"Government spending for the next three years is less than we were asking for, even before the floods. 

"It does not begin to address the major issues, including drainage, which were highlighted this summer. 

"The government will have to increase spending substantially as needs are identified by the Pitt review team."

Stakeholder response: Woodland Trust

To send a comment to The Woodland Trust click here

James Cooper of the Woodland Trust commented:

"We welcome the creation of a new Public Service Agreement for a 'healthy natural environment for today and the future', as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review and Pre-Budget Report. 

"However the Trust was generally underwhelmed by the government’s failure to match its rhetoric on the environment with a willingness to act and to commit resources.

"A 1.4% increase in real terms for Defra looks pretty meagre on the face of it given the scale of the challenges set out and the increased rhetorical emphasis on environment and countryside by government.

"It also looks particularly small compared to the 'significant investment in roads' promised in the Department of Transport's settlement and when one takes into account the need to address flood defences as part of the Defra settlement.

"Certainly the introduction of a Public Service Agreement for a healthy natural environment is promising, although we need to see cross-government action now to back up the words. Biodiversity needs to be at the heart of delivery on this action because it is the life support system upon which we depend.

"The government can move forward on this through an enhanced emphasis on biodiversity adaptation in the Climate Change Bill.

"The Trust also welcomes a switch to the concept of taxing flights rather than individual passengers, and government willingness to look in the budget at encouraging purchase of cleaner cars though the latter was simply a commitment to look at the issue.

"These ideas although not new are welcome as it is good to see the government moving forward.

"However the Pre-Budget report showed a lack of impetus when it comes to climate change which does not square with the rhetorical importance the government has attached to acting on the Stern Report.

"The continued commitment to expand Britain’s airports with the environmental damage this will bring also undermines the credibility of the commitment to tax flights."