Where your money goes: the definitive atlas of UK government spending

Border control £1.46bn Department Highways

Nuclear Agency
Cutting crime £0.411bn for Business, decommissioning Office of Fair £5.4bn
Enterprise & authority Office of rail
Rest of department £0.237bn Salaries Trading (Oft)
Policing Regulatory £7.3bn £0.079bn
Scotland regulation
£6.7bn
£11.5bn New Reform Office £0.030bn
Anti-terror £0.219bn equipment Health Wages
Army £9.8bn £7.8bn  Department for £30bn
Identity & Passport Service
£11.3bn £6bn Admin £0.2bn
Capital
Home Office £0.078bn Promoting business £0.552bn Finance & Transport £3.2bn grants to
private sector
Citizenship £0.071bn sustainable
£9.6bn (10) £8.3bn (2) Ensuring Government acts as an effective growth Bus service £0.4bn
£17.6bn
& intelligent shareholder £3.5bn operators grant
Operating costs £1bn £0.448bn General and acute
Capital
Government
£28.3bn Free & fair markets £0.418bn Education Railways £1.0bn support £27.5bn
War pensions £2.4bn to local
Equalities benefits Better Energy supply and clean energy £0.068bn £2.6bn authorities
Office regulation Other £1.1bn
Navy
£0.083bn £7.6n
Defence budget £0.003bn Devolved £1.6bn £2.4bn
GLA
transport
  £32.6bn spending Justice Net capital
grants
Consular & visa
£1.7bn expenditure
Running costs
£0.944bn
operations
£0.415bn Office of Gas & Electricity Water Services Regulation Scotland on fixed assets
Markets (Ofgem) Authority (Ofwat)

Foreign and
Commonwealth £2.1bn
(7)
BBC World Service £0.265bn

British Council £0.196bn

Royal Air Force
£7.6n
£1.9n
Centre
command £0.040bn £0.013bn
£31.3bn Rural affairs,
environment
£0.516bn
Mental illness
Office Subscriptions to UN & other bodies £0.130bn £6.6bn
Afghanistan
Other Global opportunities fund £0.079bn
programmes Scholarships £1.504bn NHS
£0.024bn £0.028bn
Environmental
protection
Iraq
Operational
spending
Ministry of Defence £90.7bn
£1.457bn
Forestry
Natural resources
& rural affairs £0.6bn
£0.5bn
£0.5bn Departmental operations Balkans £0.026bn
£3bn
£35.6bn (11) Community
health
Commission
£0.133bn Other £0.4bn Rural Payments agency  African
operations World
Department of Health services
£5.6bn
environmental £1.2bn

£105.7bn
£0.025bn operations
protection
£3.9bn (4) £0.3bn Animal health & welfare £0.020bn
Charity Commission Department for
for England & Wales Sustainable farming (6)
£0.033bn Environment, food & fisheries £0.2bn £2bn Learning
Food & Rural difficulties
Other executive
Forestry
Affairs Commission Local area
agencies £0.2bn
£0.1bn agreements Other
£0.1bn £2bn UK trade &
Arts £0.428bn
investment
Museums and Wales Enterprise Social Justice & £1.7bn
£0.088bn (15)
galleries £0.483bn regeneration Accident &
Architecture & history £0.194bn
Food Standards Office Local
£1.2bn £0.642bn NHS pensions
£1.6bn emergency
Sport £0.522bn Libraries £0.154bn Agency government
Tourism £0.057bn £0.172bn £6bn £4bn
£14bn Maternity
DCMS Royal parks £0.020bn Environment As the party conference season gets underway and public spending again
£3.0bn £4.9bn £0.346bn goes under the spotlight, The Guardian and the Institute for Fiscal Studies Postal services
Health & present the ultimate guide to how central government spends our money. Personal £2.1bn commission
Department Independent bodies
Social Devolved Rural affairs
From hospital beds to missiles, this is what happens to your taxes
social (Postcomm)
Broadcasting for Culture £1.6bn (14) £0.147bn services
and media Media & Sport
services
£5.5bn
spending National School £0.009bn
Culture, Welsh of Government
£1.7bn £6.6bn Wales language & Sport £0.003bn General schools' spending

£14bn £0.134bn Total departmental spending, 2007/2008 £31.7bn

£586.35bn
National lottery
funds distributed

Department for Children, Office for National

National Savings
Schools and Families Statistics (ONS)
Schools £0.159bn
£60.9bn
& Investments
£0.170bn
(3) £41.2bn £4.0bn Investment in
State pensions school buildings
£57.6bn
Parliamentary Counsel
Sixth form funding
£2.0bn Office
£0.3bn (through learning
£0.012bn (12)
and skills council)
Other
Department for Work £1.8bn Other schools

Housing benefit and Pensions Children &

families Teachers' pension £0.6bn £1.1bn
spending
Office for Standards in

£137.7bn
£15.6bn £2.9bn scheme Education (Ofsted)
Other spending
£10.7bn ICT Academies & £0.215bn
Young people specialist
on services for £1.2bn
(5)
children & families £5.8bn schools
£1.8bn
Learning & Skills Student
Sure Start £0.6bn £4.5bn Council (excluding Higher education loans
sixth form funding) funding council £4.7bn
Disability £0.8bn for England
benefit Education £7.0bn Learning &

£15.2bn Debt interest maintenance

allowance Other spending
Skills Council
£4.5bn
on services for

£29.9bn
young people
(1) HM Revenue
Other
and Customs £1.27bn Policing & security
Department for Research
councils
Benefit spending in GB
£30.9bn
admin Prisons £0.142bn
spending Child Trust Innovation, £3.0bn
Income £125.3bn £2.9bn Paybill Communities and (9) Fund Northern Compensation agency £0.048bn
£1.55bn Criminal justice £0.047bn
Universities & Skills
£0.24bn Ireland
support
£7.7bn
£2.8bn
HM Crown Prosecution
Local Government Her Majesty’s
Treasury Office Public Prosecution service £0.037bn
£21.5bn Student
Youth Justice Agency £0.022bn £1.0bn
£34.3bn
Service Inspectorate £0.219bn (8) Bloody Sunday inquiry £0.005bn
grants
£0.004bn
Crown Prosecution
Revenue & Customs Service (CPS) £0.553bn Departmental
programmes
science
Prosecutions Office £0.616bn Health,
£0.036bn Social
£0.479bn Other spending on
Child benefit Security further education
Pension Serious Fraud Spending by local and services Services
credit Offender Office regional government £10.6bn
management £1.59bn £3.8bn
£7.5bn £0.048bn £23.7bn £1.7bn Education
£1.990bn
Ministry Other Tax credits Cabinet Office for the Third Sector
£19.5bn (9)
Public
of Justice Criminal justice reform
£0.107bn
Improving spending Office £0.172bn
BBC media monitoring £0.025bn
Devolved Employment & learning
Incapacity supply & quality £3.7bn £7.9bn spending £0.7bn Department for
£9.4bn
prisons
benefit
£0.5bn £1.809bn Private prisons
of housing SCOPE programme £0.023bn
E-delivery £0.018bn Northern Reg development International £5.4bn
£6.6bn £0.264bn £6.9bn
£2.1bn £1.5bn Over-75s Government security programme £0.005bn Ireland £0.3bn Development
£1.9bn Treasury Solicitors' Eliminating
TV licences
Publicly funded
Tribunals Service
£0.297bn Department Government
Actuary's
Electronic communications
assurance programme
£8bn Agriculture £0.2bn
Conflict prevention
poverty
Winter Statutory legal services £0.77bn Office of Communications Enterprise, trade £0.2bn £0.051bn £5.327bn
fuel Jobseeker’s maternity HM courts service Electoral Commission Department £0.001bn Overseas
£1.673bn (Ofcomm) Finance £0.2bn superannuation
payments allowance pay
Public £1.214bn Attorney £0.022bn £0.424bn Environment
bodies General's Office £0.081bn (13) £0.1bn Culture, arts & leisure £0.1bn £0.058bn
£1.629bn £0.7bn

NOTES
The figures give a picture of major expenditure but exclude local
government spending not controlled by central government. It
also excludes government departments who are predominantly
financed by their income, such as the Crown Estate or the Export
Credits Guarantee Department. The totals here add up to more
than the total budget, because some of the smaller government
departments are funded via the larger ones, such as the
Parliamentary Counsel Office, funded via the Cabinet Office.
(1) Interest paid on the public debt
(2) Total spending on energy liabilities is actually £6.8bn, less
than that spent on the NDA. This is because the department
makes money back with efficiency savings
(3) SureStart spending includes childcare and nursery funding
(4) Animal health includes disease prevention, dealing with BSE
etc. The Rural Payments Agency is the body that distributes CAP
payments - these payments are large but covered by transfers
from EU so do not show up as net spending here
(5) Benefit spending excludes child benefit, guardians'
allowance; widow’s pensions; statutory paternity pay, statutory
adoption pay - these paid by HMRC, MoD, DBERR respectively
(6) Hospital and community health services spending is
estimated — figures to be published December 2008. Estimate
based on previous annual spending. Excludes spending on family
health services and GP prescriptions. Wages are also estimated,
based on previous year's figures
(7) Running costs includes salaries, hospitality budgets, home
and overseas accommodation costs. Administration and
programme amounts combined here
(8) Excludes Northern Rock, 2008-09 spending of at least
£14bn
(9) Spending on Child Benefits and Tax Credits etc does not
come out of the departmental expenditure pot
(10) Rest of policing funding includes funding of bodies related
to policing, such as the Police Complaints Authority and the
National Crime Intelligence Service
(11) Includes £3bn extra above budget from Treasury reserves
to cover operations. The total amounts may not sum as there are
overlapping amounts, ie between salaries and running costs
(12) Now part of the Cabinet Office
(13) The amount of government funding from DBERR and
DCMS, rest from licence fees from broadcasters and media
organisations
(14) Includes: House of Commons, House of Lords and National
Audit Office
(15) Split between Parliament direct, the FCO and DBERR
SOURCES: DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS, INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES,
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE STATISTICAL ANALYSES (PESA)
RESEARCH: SIMON ROGERS, GEMMA TETLOW, MAX OPRAY
GRAPHIC: JENNY RIDLEY, MICHAEL ROBINSON