Spending review to take place before Christmas

A date is yet to be confirmed, but the government has said the spending review will take place in the last weeks of November.

The review will set department’s resource and capital budgets for 2021-22, and devolved administration’s block grants for the same period.

The government would normally conduct a three-year spending review, and while the government would have liked to outline plans for the rest of this parliament, it said the right thing to do - now - is to focus entirely on the response to COVID-19 and supporting jobs.

The spending review will focus on three areas:

• Providing departments with the certainty they need to tackle COVID-19 and deliver the Plan for Jobs to support employment;
• Giving public services enhanced support to continue to fight against the virus alongside delivering frontline services;
• Investing in infrastructure to deliver plans to unite and level up the country, drive economic recovery and Build Back Better.