Press release

October 2011 PESA National Statistics release - including Country and Regional Analysis 2011

October 2011 PESA National Statistics presents updated estimates of key public spending outturn series against two frameworks.

From:
HM Treasury
Published
28 October 2011
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This release presents updated estimates of key public spending outturn series against two frameworks. The budgeting framework (used in Tables 1 to 7) deals with spending within central government departmental budgets, which is how the Government plans and controls public spending. This budgeting framework is largely based on resource accounting principles.

The second framework is the expenditure on services framework (used in Tables 8 and 9), which broadly follows National Accounts definitions. This framework is used for statistical analyses in these outturn updates as well as in the annual Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis (PESA) publication. Expenditure on services covers current and capital expenditure by the whole of the public sector to deliver services.

The key new data in this release is the Country and Regional Analysis 2011. The Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) presents analysis of public spending by country, region, and function. This data is consistent with departmental outturns published in July.

Notes for editors

Background

  1. These data are being released in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

    Country and Regional Analysis

  2. To produce the CRA spending is allocated to regions and countries within the UK according to a methodology overseen by HM Treasury statisticians. The CRA is a statistical exercise and plays no direct role in resource allocation. This is the first release of 2010-11 outturn data for the CRA. As part of the PESA National Statistics and Command Paper releases, CRA outturn data to 2009-10 and plans for 2010-11 were published earlier this year.  

    The timetable for producing the CRA has now been moved from the winter to the summer in order to improve timeliness and reduce burdens on departments. Beginning with this release, the CRA will now be published for the first time in the autumn of each year.

    Improvements to PESA National Statistics releases

  3. PESA National statistics releases are currently undergoing assessment for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. This work is being carried out by the assessment team at the United Kingdom Statistics Authority.

    The assessment report is due to be published in November 2011. In order to ensure ongoing compliance, HM Treasury will be carrying out a number of improvements to PESA National Statistics releases by Summer 2012. We will be seeking views from users and an address for comments is included below under feedback. The exact scope of the changes has not yet been finalised, but they are likely to focus on ensuring relevance and accessibility for users of the PESA release.

    Public expenditure by budgeting category (Tables 1 to 7)

  4. Presentation of public expenditure in Tables 1 to 7 follows the Treasury’s budgeting and control framework for 2010-11, which splits spending into resource and capital budgets. These budgets are further split into Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). DELs are firm spending limits set for departments. Spending that cannot reasonably be subject to firm multi-year limits is included in AME, alongside most other non-cash transactions.

  5. DEL and AME (including accounting adjustments) together make up Total Managed Expenditure (TME), an aggregate that is drawn from the National Accounts and is defined (in National Accounts terms) as public sector current expenditure plus public sector net investment plus public sector depreciation. Further details about the budgeting framework are contained in Annex C of PESA. 

    Public expenditure on services (Tables 8 and 9)

  6. The expenditure on services framework broadly represents the current and capital spending of the public sector, so is similar to Total Managed Expenditure (TME). The main divergence is where certain transactions that score within TME cannot be allocated to functions on a consistent basis, so are excluded from the expenditure on services framework (e.g. depreciation). 

    Further information about the expenditure on services framework is contained in Annex E of PESA. The allocation of spending to function is generally consistent with the UN Classification Of the Functions Of Government (COFOG). 

    Sources and methodology

  7. Treasury public spending statistics are compiled from administrative data sources. Central government spending is reported by Whitehall departments and the devolved administrations. DWP supplies data on local government social protection spending. 

    DfE supplies data on local government education spending in England. All other local government spending data are supplied by CLG and the Devolved Administrations. The spending aggregate, TME, was supplied by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and is consistent with the latest joint ONS/HMT Public Sector Finance Statistics release.

    Quality assurance

  8. Data in this release are largely sourced from the internal accounting systems of Whitehall departments and devolved administrations. Data for the larger departments are formally signed off by Finance Directors when they are supplied.

  9. Within the Treasury, data are initially validated by department-facing spending teams, prior to more rigorous validation by Treasury statisticians. For this release, this has included a detailed analysis of those transactions that have a revised treatment under the new budgeting framework.

    Revisions policy for these public expenditure outturn updates

    Accessibility of the underlying datasets

  10. The data in the tables in this release are supplemented by links to historical functional series and to interactive data sets published in Excel and CSV format, which are available on the Treasury website.

    Interactive datasets have previously only been made available alongside the main PESA release, but budgeting and expenditure on services datasets (the two datasets underlying the two frameworks in this release) will now additionally be made available alongside in-year updates.  The Country and Regional Analysis interactive datasets will continue to be made available annually.

    A National Statistics publication

  11. ‘National Statistics’ are the distinct subset of official statistics that are produced in accordance with the professional standards set out in the UK Statistics Authority’s ‘Code of Practice for Official Statistics’. Public bodies that produce National Statistics have a statutory duty to comply with the Code. The National Statistics logo is therefore your assurance of statistics produced to the highest professional standards.

    Feedback and enquiries from users

  12. We are always interested in users’ views on the timing, content and format of the information that is published. Users’ views or enquiries should be sent to Anthony Coyne mailto:statistics-enquiries@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk, the statistician responsible for PESA publications.

  13. For general enquiries about National Statistics, contact the National Statistics Public Enquiry Service on 0845 601 3034 or by email to info@statistics.gov.uk.
    Enquiries

Media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury Press Office on 020 7270 5238.

Published 28 October 2011