On 21 October 2010, the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced the Comprehensive Spending Review. This set out the government’s spending plan for the next year, and included a number of cuts to departments. The BBC has outlined the implications for some key departments, which are listed below.

• Cabinet Office: Current spending will go up 28 per cent and capital spending will be reduced by 28 per cent. The Cabinet Office will provide support for citizenship and ‘big society’ projects.

• Communities and Local Government: Local government spending will be reduced by 27 per cent and capital spending by 100 per cent. Communities spending will be reduced by 51 per cent and capital spending by 74 per cent. There will be a 7.1 per cent annual fall in council budgets. Ring-fencing of local authority revenue grants will end and councils will have the freedom to borrow against their assets. Funding for social housing is to be cut by more than 60 per cent (see ‘Spending review: £4 billion cut to social housing budget’, below).

• Culture, Media and Sport: Current spending will be reduced by 24 per cent and capital spending will be reduced by 32 per cent. The department’s administration costs are to be cut by 41 per cent, while core arts programmes will see a 15 per cent fall in funding. Free museum entry is to remain in place.

• Education: Current spending will go down by 3.4 per cent; capital spending will go down by 60 per cent. Five non-departmental public bodies will be abolished, but direct funding to schools in England is to be protected. Spending on school buildings is to fall by 60 per cent (see ‘Spending review: £10 billion for new schools capital projects’, below). There will be a £2.5 billion ‘pupil premium’ for teaching for disadvantaged pupils, which will be found from cuts in other areas.

• Health: Current spending will go up by 1.3 per cent; capital spending will go down by 17 per cent. The NHS in England will see its budget rise by 0.4 per cent over the next four years, and a new cancer drug fund is to be provided. £20 billion in efficiency and productivity savings is to be sought in NHS by the end of the Parliament. There will be an extra £2 billion for social care by 2014-15.

• Work and Pensions: The state pension age for men will start rising from 65 in 2018 and will reach 66 by 2020, and the rise in the retirement age for women will accelerate, also reaching 66 by 2020. Winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and TV licences for 75-year-olds are to be protected. There will be a £2 billion investment in a new universal credit. A further £7 billion is to be made in welfare savings planned in addition to the £11 billion already announced. A new 12-month time limit on the Employment and Support Allowance has been introduced