There were seventeen measures in the budget from the previous week that you may have missed, including renovated village halls and shortened passport queues:
1) Are you venturing overseas for Easter? Travellers should anticipate a three-week renewal process for their passports, as enhancements are expected to eliminate the need for ten-week waiting periods.
2) Another income increase is scheduled for pensioners, as the government has reaffirmed its commitment to safeguard the triple lock. The annual cash value of the full basic state pension will increase by £3,700 in 2024-25, reaching £11,502.
3) By March 2026, electronic patient records will be standard across all NHS Trusts, eliminating the need for paper records and facilitating patient access to information across all NHS systems.
4) Veterans of D-Day will be honoured at a government-funded ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the landings.
5) While the last cucumber sandwiches were consumed and the bunting has long since been stored away, the Queen’s legacy endures through an additional £5 million designated for the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund. This funding is intended to support the continued pivotal role of village halls throughout England in their respective communities.
6) In the near future, prescriptions and doctor’s visits may no longer be necessary to treat seven prevalent conditions, as the government introduces Pharmacy First, a service that provides patients with treatment directly from pharmacies.
7) Funding for initiatives aimed at nurturing burgeoning talent within the British film industry will be provided by the government. It will provide assistance to the National Film and Television School in its endeavour to augment its instructional space in order to accommodate an additional 200 apprenticeship positions annually, introduce innovative courses that incorporate artificial intelligence, and enhance facilities for students with disabilities.
8) A sum of £16 million will be allocated towards prison workshops with the aim of enhancing inmates’ employability and rehabilitation.
9) Prominent actors such as Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, and Laurence Olivier have graced the stages of the National Theatre. Those boards are now slated for replacement, as the government has allocated £26.4 million towards the renovation of the infrastructure and stage of the theatre.
10) Will your child or grandchild begin their academic year in September? Additional school funding will result in an average per-pupil expenditure increase to £7,690 in 2024–25.
11) In order to enable more time to be devoted to patient care, digital passports and a new staff application will be provided to all NHS employees. This will eliminate the need to redo training courses and streamline the process of shifting between departments within the NHS.
12) Prepare to face RoboCop! To allow officers to devote more time to the front lines, the government is allocating £230 million to pilot programmes of policing technology, including the use of facial recognition, automation of the triage of 101 calls, and the deployment of drones as first responders.
13) Ministers are also conducting pilot programmes to assist planning authorities in streamlining their processes with the assistance of artificial intelligence; as a result, the average time for developing plans has been reduced from seven years to thirty months.
14) A crackdown on cybercriminals is imminent, as the government has pledged £34 million to expand the Public Sector Fraud Authority through the implementation of artificial intelligence to combat public sector fraud. This should facilitate the detection, apprehension, and prosecution of fraudsters, thereby conserving the public purse £100 million.
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15) Does your household include a member who aspires to become an astronaut? In order to facilitate the 2024 orbital launch of SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands, the government has allocated £10 million.
16) Although Canary Wharf is renowned for housing major banks, hundreds of households could call it home as the government has committed to constructing up to 750 homes in the East London area.
17) By 2031, an additional 24,000 training places in nursing and midwifery will be accessible due to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’s investment in the most extensive expansion in the history of NHS staff recruitment and training.
