§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, pursuant to his reply of 20 July 2004,Official Report, column 187W, what the (a) increase in the public expenditure programmes used as the comparator spend for the purposes of the Barnett formula for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2000–01 and 2003–04, (b) actual increases in the Barnett formula allocations to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2000–01 and 2003–04 and (c) increase in public spending between 2000–01 and 2003–04 in the North East for programmes used as comparator programmes for Barnett formula assessments were. [186864]
§ John HealeyThe operation of the Barnett formula is set out in the Statement of Funding Policy. The formula is applied to increases in the spending of the comparable Government Departments. The increases in spending of Government Departments were announced in the 2000, 2002 and 2004 Spending Review White Papers. The increases in spending for the devolved Administrations were also announced in these White Papers. Information on identifiable public spending in the North East is published in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2004 (Cm 6201). The Barnett formula is not applied to English regional spending.