2.1 Chapter 1 explains how the measures announced in the Autumn Statement advance the Government's long-term goals. This chapter presents a summary of how these measures affect the public finances. The tables in this chapter set out the fiscal impacts of all Autumn Statement policy decisions.1
2.2 Alongside the Autumn Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has published an independent forecast of the public finances and the economy, incorporating autumn policy decisions. To produce this forecast, the OBR has scrutinised the Government's assessment of the direct costs or yield of autumn policy decisions that affect public finance forecasts and has made an assessment of the indirect effects of Autumn Statement measures on the economy.
2.3 Consistent with its commitment to transparency, the Government is following the approach taken at the June Budget 2010 and Budget 2011 in publishing the methodology underlying the calculation of the fiscal impact of each Autumn Statement policy decision. This is included in the supplementary document Autumn Statement 2011 policy costings.2
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1 The numbers or lower-case letters in brackets after each measure refer to the line in Table 2.1 or Table 2.4 where its cost or yield is shown.
2 Autumn Statement 2011 policy costings, HM Treasury, Department for Work and Pensions, and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), November 2011.