At a glance

Main points
· 10-year childcare strategy unveiled
· Maternity pay to rise from 6 to 9 months
· Debt on course to meet 'golden rule'
· ?1bn to keep council tax rises low
· ?105m for anti-terror measures

Childcare
· New funds are to be allocated to keep schools open from 8am to 6pm
· Child care tax credits will rise for those on lower and middle incomes, covering up to 80% of costs up to ?175 a week for the first child and ?300 for two or more children
· The national minimum income guarantee for single parents with one child will rise to ?258 a week.
· From April employers will be able to offer staff ?50 a week extra for child care free of tax and national insurance
· Free nursery education for three and four-year-olds extended to 15 hours-a-week from April 2007
· Extra ?285m to extend paid maternity from six to nine months, starting 2007- "the most generous maternity support and support for young children in history"
· Maternity leave to be transferable from mothers to fathers
· Treasury consulting on extending child trust funds so children receive a further ?250 or ?500 on their seventh birthday

Government borrowing
· Debt interest payments ?4bn less than in 1997
· Social security bills down by same amount
· Brown indicated in last budget that public sector net borrowing would be ?37.5bn. Today he revealed it will in fact be ?35bn (34.3% of national income, below the target of 40%) · it will be ?34bn next year and then ?29bn the year after
· The figures leave Brown with ?8bn of margin on the "golden rule"
· Borrowing represents 2.9% of GDP and will fall in future to 1.5% - "well within the Maastricht criteria of EU"

Public spending
· 'The government is meeting its two spending rules and will continue to do so in the next economic cycle'
· ?579bn in 2007-08, rising to ?634bn in 2009-10

Forecasts and performance
· Growth will be 3.25% this year, representing the "longest period of uninterrupted growth in the industrial history of our country"; it will be 3-3.5% next year and 2.5-3% the following year
· Inflation will be 1.25% this year, 1.75% next year and 2% in years to follow
· Business investment will rise by 5.75% this year and by 4 to 4.5% next year;
· Exports to rise by more than 6% this year

Local government
· ?1bn of new and re-allocated money for local councils in England to keep council tax bills down

Environment
· During UK's G8 presidency, priority will be given to climate change
· ?20m to be managed by the Carbon Trust to fund innovations in alternative energy sources
· Freeze on car tax and fuel duty due to recent oil price volatility

Pensioners
· Winter fuel payments will rise by ?50 for the over-70s to ?250 and to ?350 for over-80s
· The pension credit will rise next year in line with average earnings

Duty free
· Brown has urged the EU to raise the ?145 limit on overseas purchases outside the EU

Housing
· 1.2m additional home-owners since 1997
· Plan to pilot 'mixed communities' in private estates
· Lowest mortgage rates over a 6-year period since the 1960s

The war on terrror
· Yesterday Brown said an extra ?520m was put aside for Iraq and overseas operations
· Today he set aside a further ?105m for 'necessary security measures' and counter-terrorism

Science, research and development
· ?2.5bn investment in science, creating "science cities of the north" - beginning with Manchester, Newcastle and York
· An industry-led science forum will also be set up.

Small businesses
· Inland Revenue to create small business unit
· Possible 'single tax return' for small businesses
· Hampton report on rationalising business regulation published today

Civil service
· Government on track to meet Gershon principles - leading to ?21bn of savings through civil service job cuts and relocation. By 2010 20,000 jobs will have been relocated to regions

NHS
· ?330m saved from NHS drug procurement

Universities
· Remove tax barriers to formation of university spin-offs

Employment
· ?2,000 per year 'return to work bonus' for lone parents and incapacity claimants

Overseas aid
· Britain committed to helping Africa with International Finance Facility, 100% debt relief and Aids and malaria research as G8 president next year.

Tax avoidance
· Clampdown on tax avoidance schemes including abuse of film tax legislation

Savings
· ?120m to help 2 million families without bank accounts