Spending to become 'much tighter'

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Whitehall faces a "much tighter" spending environment, the head of the civil service has warned.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell told BBC One's The Politics Show that plans were being drawn up to make savings and repair public finances.

But he admitted that the task facing ministers was "immense".

He said he was responsible for stopping the shadow chancellor from accessing a government database, but would "think about" how to release the information.

'Realistic choices'

Sir Gus's rare interview come at a time when public spending has become a fiercely-argued issue.

Labour and the Conservatives have been under increasing pressure to spell out their positions on how they are going to deal with the UK's biggest peacetime deficit.

In bitter clashes, Labour has accused the Tories of planning stinging cuts, while the Tories have accused Labour of being dishonest.

Sir Gus said civil servants could pinpoint efficiency savings, but it would be up to whichever party won power to decide on spending priorities.

He added: "I think that civil servants have to be ready to deal with a much tighter public expenditure situation.

"We will need to think about efficiencies. The challenges of doing that will be quite immense for us.

"What we need to do as an efficient Civil Service that is ready to give honest, objective advice to ministers - we need to think through all the options and give them some realistic choices to make."

'Lot of information'

Sir Gus also addressed the row over the refusal to give Mr Osborne access to the Combined Online Information System, which lists government spending in 12,000 categories.

The shadow chancellor had accused ministers of blocking him from the database, which he said he needed to review in order to decide how to reduce public spending.

Opposition parties are not routinely given access to the spending database.

Sir Gus confirmed that he had been responsible for the decision to deny Mr Osborne access.

The cabinet secretary said he had been operating "within the context" of a letter from the prime minister outlining the terms of handover talks between the Civil Service and the opposition parties which traditionally occur ahead of a general election.

But Sir Gus added that he was considering how the information could be made available to Mr Osborne.

"There is a lot of information out there already and we will try as best we can to ensure that the opposition are prepared and the Civil Service are prepared for whatever decision is made by the British electorate at the next election," Sir Gus added.