United Kingdom budget

Pie chart of UK central government expenditure, cash projections, 2007-8.

The United Kingdom budget^[1] in the field of Public finance deals with HM Treasury budgeting the revenues gathered by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and expenditures of public sector departments, in compliance with government policy. The UK Public Spending from 2001 -2007 was:

Adjustment is achieved with the GDP deflator. See also Economy of the United Kingdom and GDP per capita by region.

[edit] Planned resource budgets 2007-08 (£ million)

Department	2007-08 (£ million)
Work and Pensions	132732
Health	104464
Education and Skills	68060
Defence	38986
Tax, Excise and Treasury^[2]	30802
Communities & Local Government	28186
Scottish Government	26469
Northern Ireland Executive	14667
Home Office	13877
Welsh Assembly Government	12785
Transport	10150
Cabinet Office	10090
Trade and Industry	6015
Culture, Media and Sport	5042
International Development	4772
Ministry of Justice	4086
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	3099
Foreign and Commonwealth Office	1859
Northern Ireland Office	1370
Law Officers' Departments	718
Departmental Expenditure Limit Reserve	600
Unallocated Special Reserve	400
Total resource budget	519229

In 2006 the "Big Four" firms of international auditors plus Grant Thornton and BDO recommended ("Global Capital Markets and the Global Economy") public and private enterprises report performance and financial statements in real-time on the web. These measures would correct the under pricing of risk, for example, which according to Gordon Brown^[3] underlies the present credit market problem. The Metaphorum group recommend the use of Stafford Beer's Viable System Model for the real-time management architecture producing a risk aware "work smart, work less" culture and better value Public Services and investment.

HM Treasury's independent Gershon Review of Public Services "Releasing Resources for the Frontline" (2004). Gershon claimed "...efficiency gains of over £20 billion in 2007-08 across the public sector have been identified and agreed" (4%). The Work Foundation's response "Whether this challenge can be met will test the capabilities of ministers, public service employers and trade unions".

An earlier millennium Treasury comparative best practice study suggests potential savings of 35% are possible, with an additional 17% if public service investment was as efficient as the private sector. This could eventually release £266 billion per year (£409 million per day, at 2007 prices) in tax cuts.

UK GDP from Office of National Statistics "UK Output, Income and Expenditure"

UK Budget 2008 from HM treasury: Budget 2008 Report and Statistics.
BBC Budget 2008 Overview Special Report : Budget 2008
Budget 2008 Analysis for Businesses Budget 2008 Analysis
HM Treasury and Department of Trade and Industry report on Productivity in the UK Progress and new evidence March 2006
HM Treasury Whole of Government Accounts development programme.
Accounting firms PwC, KPMG, Grant Thornton, BDO, Deloitte and Ernst & Young call to abandon quarterly reporting in favour of real-time reporting of spending and performance on the web using XBRL. "Global Capital Markets and the Global Economy" given at the Global Public Policy Symposium in Paris November 2006.
Sunday Times May 1st 2005 "Government ‘hides’ billions wasted in public services"
Daily Telegraph Saturday 24th November 2007 "Better Government Initiative experts say billions wasted on services
Better Government Initiative- Reforming the British System of Government.