Comprehensive Spending Review scrapped

The decision has been taken in order to focus on supporting jobs, setting departmental resources and capital budgets for 2021-22.

Comprehensive Spending Review scrapped

The government has scrapped its long-term Comprehensive Spending Review in order to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will instead set out a one-year review in late November.

Sunak explained that the decision has been taken in order to focus on supporting jobs, setting departmental resources and capital budgets for 2021-22.

The one-year spending review intends to focus on three key areas primarily, including providing departments with the certainty they need to tackle COVID-19 and deliver the 'Plan for Jobs' to support employment.

The review will centre on giving vital public services enhanced support, and investing in infrastructure to deliver plans to unite and level up the country, drive the economic recovery and 'build back better'.

Furthermore, the government outlined that multi-year NHS, school resource and priority infrastructure projects, including HS2, will be fully funded.

Sunak said: "In the current environment its essential that we provide certainty. So we’ll be doing that for departments and all of the nations of the United Kingdom by setting budgets for next year, with a total focus on tackling COVID and delivering our Plan for Jobs.

"Long term investment in our country’s future is the right thing to do, especially in areas which are the cornerstone of our society like the NHS, schools and infrastructure.

"We’ll make sure these areas crucial to our economic recovery have their budgets set for further years so they can plan and help us Build Back Better."

The Treasury said: “While the government would have liked to outline plans for the rest of this parliament, the right thing today is to focus entirely on the response to COVID-19 and supporting jobs – that is what the public would expect.”