 It will be Mr Brown's fourth spending review |
Chancellor Gordon Brown is preparing to set out his spending plans for the next three years in what many expect to be a tightening of the purse strings. Mr Brown presents the fundings for government departments in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.
No pre-election spending spree is predicted with money going on services found from cuts elsewhere, reports say.
The falling cost of the national debt could provide for spending on transport and new homes, say newspaper reports.
'Boost for military'
Health will enjoy a real spending growth and Mr Brown has already promised that defence, the home office and transport will get real increases.
The Times is reporting that Mr Brown's review will give �3bn to the armed forces in a deal better than the settlement two years ago which in turn was the best for the Forces for 20 years.
Monday's Guardian predicts an extra �1bn for housing and increased spending to combat terrorism.
Elsewhere the butter will need to be spread more thinly, say experts. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the chancellor has "limited room for manoeuvre" and he may need to raise taxes by as much as �10bn, they said.
Mr Brown has already signalled that spending will rise by around 2.7% a year above inflation in 2006-08.
However the size of the cake to be shared around after what has already been allocated deserves further analysis.
"Once he has paid for what he has already promised on health and education you are left with an average real increase of about 1.4% a year," said IFS Director, Robert Chote.
Lower costs
Efficiency savings will be the main focus, said the IFS and "the savings will be spent mostly on things voters notice like doctors and nurses."
There will be fewer civil servants to deliver those efficiency savings, possibly as many as 80,000 fewer according to the Peter Gershon report.
The chancellor's plans to cut the number of civil servants has been greeted positively by the CBI's director general, Digby Jones who said, "just standing up and saying I'm going to get rid of 40,000 to 80,000 civil servants is enough on its own."
Environment
As part of the Review, Whitehall departments will agree performance targets as set out in the Energy White Paper.
Environmental groups say extra investment is needed to meet the goals on energy generation and waste recycling.
The RAC Foundation for Motoring urged the chancellor not to give in to environmental groups by cutting back on the roads programme.
Mr Brown delivers his fourth spending review following a weekend of speculation about Tony Blair's future, including suggestions the pair agreed a deal last November for the PM to hand over the leadership "around about now".
Mr Blair has dismissed the claims "as absolute rubbish", according to BBC political editor Andrew Marr.
But the PM now faces a particularly challenging week, with Wednesday's publication of the Butler report into intelligence on Iraq and by-elections in Leicester and Birmingham a day later.
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The savings will be spent mostly on things voters notice like doctors and nurses 
