11 October 2013
This note provides some headline figures from the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget 2014-15 that was laid on 8th October. Total managed expenditure (TME) The TME for the Welsh Government (i.e. that allocated to departments) in 2014-15 is £15.7 billion, representing an increase of £182.6 million, or 1.2% on that for 2013-14. In real terms this equates to a 0.7% reduction. Over the course of the budget period (2013-14 to 2015-16) there is an overall increase of £7.5 million, or 0.05%. In real terms this represents a 3.6% reduction. In comparison to previous indicative plans, TME for Welsh Government departments has increased by £144.8 million; or 0.9% for 2014-15. Revenue and Capital departmental expenditure limits (DEL) Year-on-year changes to revenue and capital DEL (i.e. the multi-year budget limit set ) for the Welsh Government departments show that:
- Overall DEL allocated to Welsh Government departments in 2014-15 is £15.3 billion, representing an increase of £109.1 million, or 0.7% on that for 2013-14. In real terms this is a 1.2% decrease.
- Over the budget period there is a decrease in total DEL of £101 million, or 0.7%. In real terms this represents a 4.2% reduction.
- Revenue DEL allocated to Welsh Government departments in 2014-15 is £13.9 billion, representing a decrease of £85.3 million, or 0.6% on that for 2013-14. In real terms this is a 2.5% decrease.
- Over the budget period there is a decrease in revenue DEL of £197.9 million, or 1.4%. In real terms this represents a 5.0% reduction.
- Capital DEL allocated to Welsh Government departments in 2014-15 is £1.4 billion, representing an increase of £194.5 million, or 15.9% on that for 2013-14. In real terms this is a 13.7% increase.
- Over the budget period there is an increase in capital DEL of £96.9 million, or 7.9 %. In real terms this represents a 4.0% increase.
There have been changes to the revenue and capital DEL for Welsh Government departments since the indicative plans at the time of the Supplementary Budget 2013-14. This shows that:
- Overall DEL allocated to Welsh Government departments for 2014-15 has increased by £158.4 million, or 1.0% in comparison to previous indicative plans.
- Revenue DEL allocated to Welsh Government departments for 2014-15 has decreased by £100.4 million, or 0.7% in comparison to previous indicative plans.
- Capital DEL allocated to Welsh Government departments for 2014-15 has increased by £258.8 million, or 22.3% in comparison to previous indicative plans.
Allocations to Main Expenditure Groups (i.e. ministerial portfolios) Figure 1 below shows the proportion of Welsh Government DEL allocated to each main expenditure group. Table 1 shows the proportion of the budget allocated to each Welsh Government Department will change over the budget period:
- There will be an increased allocation to revenue spending on Health & Social Services, and capital spending in Economy, Science & Transport and Housing & Regeneration;
- There will be a reduced allocation to Local Government and Education & Skills
Figure 1: Total DEL allocations by main expenditure group [caption id="attachment_822" align="aligncenter" width="625"] Source: Research Service calculations from Welsh Government budgets.[/caption] Table 1: Percentage of Welsh Government DEL allocated to each main expenditure group (MEG) [caption id="attachment_823" align="aligncenter" width="625"] Source: Research Service calculations from Welsh Government budgets.[/caption] Article by Richard Bettley