Below is a factual summary of the main points covered in the Chancellor's Pre-Budget speech. For those who are interested, the full report is available on the HMT website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pre_budget_report/prebud_pbr06/prebud_pbr06_index.cfm

We will be sending out a further briefing on the key aspects of the report shortly. The pre-budget report focussed on key themes of investment in transport, housing and skills. The PBR drew heavily on all the recent government commissioned reports - further information on these can be found below;

No major tax changes were announced;

The Chancellor has stated that his efficiency programme is on track. Baseline savings will be at least 3 per cent per year across local and central government whilst administrative budgets will be cut by at least 5 per cent over the 2007 CSR period. This will release an extra £26bn;

£9.6bn planned investment in transport in 2007/08;

Inflation-only rise in road fuel duty of 1.25p per litre from midnight; Increase in air passenger duty from 1st February 2007 from £5 to £10 in recognition of the environmental costs of flying; £8bn planned investment in housing; A time-limited stamp duty exemption on all new zero carbon homes;

Capital investment in education to rise from £8.3bn in 2007/08 to £10.2bn in 2010/11;

A four-year educational investment settlement was also announced - a total of £36bn is to be invested in educational institutions over the period;

A further £130m will be given directly to schools in England in 2007/08 to support personalised teaching and extended services;

From the 1st of April 2007, landfill tax will increase by £3 to £24 per tonne; A series of measures to tighten the tax avoidance regime were announced plus further strengthening of strategy relating to the Missing Trader VAT fraud;

The Government is taking action against Managed Service Company (MSC) schemes which avoid paying employed levels of tax and NICS;

Some modernising of the tax system were announced - simplification of tax rules governing life assurance companies and the introduction of a Construction Industry Scheme which aims to help the construction industry comply with their tax obligations whilst reducing regulatory burdens;

Improving the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage to tackle non-compliance and raising penalties for those who are seriously non-compliant; and Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) will become permanent beyond 2010.