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Key points at a glance from the Spending Review

Paul Seddon
Political reporter
Reuters Rachel Reeves pictured outside 11 Downing StreetReuters

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled the contents of the UK's first multi-year spending review since 2021.

The review sets the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years, used to pay staff and deliver public services.

It also sets their investment budgets until the end of the decade, to pay for new infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and military kit.

Here is a summary of the key points.

Health

  • Day-to-day budget for the NHS in England to go up by 3% on average over the next three years, ing for inflation, reaching £226bn by 2029
  • Investment budget to be held in real over next three years, following rises over the last two years
  • Up to £10bn earmarked by 2029 for new technology, including improving the NHS App and delivering single patient records
  • The health department will be asked to deliver around £9bn in "efficiency gains" by 2029, out of a government-wide target of £13.8bn

Education

  • Core schools budget in England to go up by 0.4% in real on average over the next three years, reaching £69.5bn by 2029
  • Free school meals to be extended to about 500,000 more children from September 2026, costing around £490m per year

Crime, justice and borders

  • Home Office day-to-day budget to go down by 1.7% in real over the next three years
  • Ministers say they hope to reduce the department's spending on hotels for asylum seekers, and end their use by the next election
  • They insist police "spending power" will still go up by 1.7% in real , based on the assumption that it will be paid for, in part, by increases in council tax
  • The Ministry of Justice budget, which pays for prison and court costs, to see average real- rises in day-to-day spending of 1.8% a year, although its investment budget will go down by 2.1% in real

Defence

  • Ministry of Defence day-to-day budget to go up 0.7% in real , with a big 7.3% average annual rise in investment spending
  • The government has pledged to increase defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of overall economic output by 2027
  • It is facing pressure from allies to go further, ahead of a key Nato summit later this month
Getty Images Astute class submarineGetty Images

Housing and local government

  • Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to see 1.4% real- cut in day-to-day budget
  • The government says councils' "core spending power" will still go up, if they increase council tax by the maximum amount
  • £39bn allocated for social housing in England between 2026 and 2036, an average of £3.9bn a year over the period compared to £2.3bn currently
PA Media A view of construction workers building new homesPA Media

Transport and environment

  • Transport department day-to-day budget cut by 5% in real - with the government arguing savings will be made when private train companies are nationalised over the coming years
  • £15.6bn allocated between 2027 and 2031 for transport projects in English city regions outside London
  • £3 cap on single bus fares in England extended until March 2027
  • Environment department day-to-day budget to fall by 2.7% in real

Energy

  • Energy security department budget to go up 0.5% in real for day-to-day spending, and 2.6% for investment
  • Additional £11.5bn committed towards the cost of building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, which will also require private investment

International affairs

  • Foreign Office day-to-day budget to go down by 6.8% in real over next three years, the biggest drop, largely due to reduced aid spending
  • Overseas aid will make up spending 0.3% of national income by 2027, under previously-announced plans

Science and technology

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

  • Additional spending in England will be be matched by an extra £5.7bn per year on average for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland