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| Save £20bn, George Osborne tells Whitehall departments | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| George Osborne has launched his spending review with a call for £20bn cuts to Whitehall budgets. | George Osborne has launched his spending review with a call for £20bn cuts to Whitehall budgets. |
| Each unprotected department has been asked to come up with savings plans of 25% and 40% of their budget. | |
| The chancellor said departments had also been asked to help meet a target of 150,000 new homes on public sector land by 2020. | |
| The NHS and per-pupil schools budgets will be protected in the review, which will be published on 25 November. | The NHS and per-pupil schools budgets will be protected in the review, which will be published on 25 November. |
| Mr Osborne told MPs that "with careful management of public money, we can get more for less". | Mr Osborne told MPs that "with careful management of public money, we can get more for less". |
| The Treasury said "large savings" would be required of unprotected departments, which have been asked to model two scenarios: of 25% and 40% cuts to their budgets by 2020. | The Treasury said "large savings" would be required of unprotected departments, which have been asked to model two scenarios: of 25% and 40% cuts to their budgets by 2020. |
| Mr Osborne has already unveiled £12bn of welfare savings plus £5bn of tax avoidance measures - which together with the £20bn of departmental spending cuts make up the £37bn figure earmarked to get government finances back in the black. | Mr Osborne has already unveiled £12bn of welfare savings plus £5bn of tax avoidance measures - which together with the £20bn of departmental spending cuts make up the £37bn figure earmarked to get government finances back in the black. |
| 'Guts' | |
| Spending limits will be set for government departments, which will also be asked to examine the way they manage their assets and consider privatisation and contracting out where necessary. | |
| The review document says it will prioritise spending which: promotes innovation and greater collaboration in public services; promotes growth and productivity including through devolution within England; promotes choice and competition and which drive efficiency and value for money. | |
| Although full details will not be published until November, the document does include some details of specific areas for change. | |
| On local government it says "the government will look at transforming the approach" to its financing and "further decentralising power, in order to maximise efficiency, local economic growth and the integration of public services". | |
| During Treasury questions, Labour's shadow chancellor Chris Leslie criticised the decision to replace maintenance grants with loans, a move announced in the Budget earlier this month. | |
| Mr Leslie said Mr Osborne "didn't have the guts" to announce the change, which he said would increase poorer students' debt, before the general election. | |
| The SNP's Stewart Hosie said capital expenditure was forecast to fall every year until 2020. Mr Osborne said the SNP could raise taxes to increase spending in Scotland if it wanted. |