Politics · United Kingdom · 11 hrs ago
UK to protect spending designed to prevent future costs
The UK government plans to protect spending that prevents future costs from being redirected to urgent day-to-day needs.
The rule will apply through a new budget category called a preventative departmental expenditure limit, or PDEL.
It is due to begin with the next spending review, which starts next year.
Possible examples include public health programmes, early-years services like Sure Start and Andy Burnham’s plan to prevent rough sleeping.
The aim is to stop departments raiding long-term budgets to fill short-term gaps, a practice that has affected prevention services in the past.
But the government has not defined what will qualify, and departments are waiting for guidance from the Treasury.
That uncertainty could lead to new disputes between departments and the Treasury over which projects receive protection.
The UK government plans to ringfence spending that can be shown to prevent future costs.
The protection, called a preventative departmental expenditure limit (PDEL), is due to apply from the spending review starting next year.
The policy is intended to stop departments using long-term preventative budgets to meet immediate needs.
Officials have not yet set out which projects will qualify, and experts warn the definition could be difficult to apply.
- Who
- The UK government is introducing the policy.
- What
- It plans to protect qualifying preventative spending from being redirected to immediate needs.
- When
- It is due to begin with the spending review starting next year.
- Where
- UK government departments.
- Why
- To protect spending that can reduce future costs and discourage departments from raiding those budgets for short-term measures.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The coalition government’s austerity measures cut numerous prevention-based services, including Sure Start.
The spending review is due to begin, with qualifying projects set to receive protection through PDEL.
- Policy
- Preventative departmental expenditure limit (PDEL)
- Start
- Spending review beginning next year
- Example
- Andy Burnham’s plan to prevent rough sleeping
- Budget document
- 166 pages
- Past cuts
- Sure Start was among the prevention-based services cut during austerity measures
What people are saying
It could end up being quite a major change in how the government runs spending reviews, and the entire spending framework
Too often government departments have ended up raiding these types of budgets to fund short-term measures. This is an attempt to combat that as part of a wider push to transform the way the state operates.
This does feel like a really good thing