Issues related with central government - Finance (part two)

You have been asked to help write a short feature on the Budget and to compile a glossary of economic terms.

For the purpose of this exercise you are not required to write the article but to prepare the material.

1. Describe the purpose of the Budget and outline what the Chancellor will usually cover in his speech.

The Treasury's big day in each parliamentary session it the budget, in which the Chancellor sets out in a formal House of commons statement.

The purpose of the budget is to set out Government's taxation proposals for the next but one financial year and its spending proposals for the next three years. It also sets out the government's borrowing targets.

The budget speech is in the spring (on Aril 22 this year), but there is a pre-Budget report in the autumn, in effect a progress report on the UK's economic position and the Government's finances.

In the autumn statement, the Chancellor outlines the approach he is likely to take in the Budget.