HM Treasury has issued guidance to government departments for the Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) data collection exercise. This exercise aims to collate country and regional spending information from government departments, devolved administrations, local authorities, and public corporations.
The CRA uses a combination of actual regional spending and statistical methodologies. A core principle of the CRA is that regional spending is allocated based on the location of individuals and enterprises that benefit from the public spending, rather than where the money is spent.
The analysis specifically includes 'identifiable expenditure' in its regional totals. This refers to spending that can be identified as benefiting specific regions or countries. Conversely, 'non-identifiable expenditure', such as defence spending, is considered to benefit the UK as a whole and is not included in regional totals.