By Adrian Browne BBC Wales political reporter

Less cash for the NHS in England means less for Wales too

Chancellor Alistair Darling said the Welsh Assembly Government's budget would rise from �14bn to �16bn by 2010.

The fine print, contained in the Treasury's figures, shows the increase is actually from �13.588bn to �15.8bn.

Look a little further, and you see that the assembly government will spend �13.8bn this year - �260m more than the Treasury indicated.

Over the three years of Mr Darling's review it adds up to �780m - a tidy sum

The reason for the discrepancy? It is because while the Treasury figures are notional, the assembly government's are actual.

What's �260m between friends, you may cry.

Well, over the three years of Mr Darling's review it adds up to �780m - a tidy sum.

And because the Treasury figures start from a lower base, it makes the increase in funding Wales is receiving appear more generous than it actually is.

The bottom line is that when the Treasury says Wales is getting �700m more in 2008, the actual increase will be only �440m (�700m minus �260m).

In percentages, the assembly government says this is an average increase over the next three years of 1.8% a year above inflation, rather than the 2.4% originally suggested by the Wales Office and the Treasury.

Clawed back

How can the Treasury justify this? Well, it is all based on the formula by which Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland receive their funding.

Surprisingly, you might think, the NHS in England has failed to spend all the money it was given for 2007.

The money has been clawed back and the Treasury boffins have decided to do their future sums based on what the English NHS actually spent.

This means the money Wales would have received, under the formula, is now that much less.

The Treasury is doing its calculations in the spending review as if that is what Wales received all along.