Nicola Smith

Cuts Watch is intended to provide an analysis of where the Coalition’s cuts are being made and what impact they are having – we will be using this section of the blog to post as much information as we can find on exactly how services and funding are being affected.

Today’s announcements have provided some more detail on where cuts will fall this year:

• In total, £6.2 billion will be cut from public expenditure this year.
• There have been a number of cuts – including those in education and skills, tackling youth unemployment, green investment, scientific research and regional investment – which will reduce the money available for programmes that specifically sought to support the economic recovery.
• A number of cuts have been outlined which are likely to hit the most vulnerable the hardest – including the cutting of the Child Trust Fund and the cut in the local government grant (combined with the end of ringfencing for key services).
• There is still a lack of detail over where many of the cuts will be made – in some cases the Press Association seems to have more detail than is available on Departmental websites.
• The future of spending commitments made by Labour before they left office also remains unclear – in particular details on the fate of the Building Schools for the Future programme and key business grants and loans have not been specified.