Click for an IEMA briefing on what the Spending Review means for the environment and key governmental departments.

Following Chancellor George Osborne's delivery of the comprehensive review yesterday (Wednesday), further details are now available on how the cuts are going to affect Defra, DECC and their arms length bodies.

The 2010 Spending Review sets out Government spending plans to the end of the 2014-15 financial year. Headline issues are:

  • �1 billion tax rise from the decision not to recycle revenue from allowance sales under the Carbon Reduction Commitment.
  • Uncertainty over the formation of a green investment bank, with capitalisation funding subject to the proposed bank's design meeting tests of effectiveness, affordability and transparency.
  • Better than anticipated capital expenditure on flood defence.
  • Science and research budget maintained at 2010-11 level for the next 4 years. The announcement that there will be no recycling of revenues from the CRC will be of major concern to those companies that have taken early action measures with the expectation of performing well in the scheme's league table. The full implications will only become apparent at the time of the next budget, but the announcement penalises those companies that have acted responsibly with what now appears a straightforward carbon tax.

Although high-level spending plans have been announced, the implications of these for bodies and programmes such as the Environment Agency, Natural England, WRAP and the Carbon Trust will only become apparent over the next 2 months.

IEMA will continue to monitor the outcome of the spending review over the coming weeks and inform members of what the cuts and changes mean. Further news and analysis will feature online and in 'the environmentalist'.

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