Brown set to give away billions

Gordon Brown: Second spending review

Health and education are expected to be the main beneficiaries when the chancellor sets out the government's spending plans for the next three years.

Gordon Brown is also expected to tell Parliament on Tuesday afternoon that measures to tackle crime will receive additional funding.

It is predicted he will announce spending rises of about £40bn in his second Comprehensive Spending Review.

Shadow chancellor Michael Portillo has dismissed the CSR as a "splurge" which would inevitably lead to tax increases.

Tight-lipped

There have been months of speculation about the way Mr Brown will divide the money.

But Whitehall will not comment on the winners and losers - although several commentators suggest that defence spending could be increased in real terms for the first time since the Cold War.

Tony Blair met the Chief of Defence Staff Sir Charles Guthrie last week, which heightened speculation about an increase in defence spending.

CSR: the speculation

Education: £500 more per pupil over four year

Health: £13bn-£21bn extra over four years

Transport: An extra £4bn per year

Care homes: £1.3bn per year

Sensitive to the charge that brandishing "telephone number" increases in spending are meaningless to the public, Gordon Brown is likely to make his announcement on education on a per pupil basis.

The Guardian newspaper predicted a rise in education spending would be worth £500 a pupil over four years.

Boost for health

Figures touted around for the NHS range from £13bn to £21bn over four years.

Around £4bn per year of new money is expected to go into improving public transport.

Free nursing for the elderly in care homes is another possible measure, at a cost of £1.3bn a year.

Some commentators think crime will be a big winner, with Tory attacks on dwindling police numbers forcing the government to fund more new officers on top of the 5,000 already promised in this year's Budget.

The latest crime figures, showing a steep rise in violent offences, have also put the government on the defensive on law and order.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Smith said the CSR amounted to "prudent spending on the public's priorities - jobs, health, education, tackling crime, improving our transport system."

"We are able to invest in these priorities because we have been careful with the taxpayers' money, worked on prudent assumptions and taken the tough decisions that were necessary," he said.

"We are only proposing in the spending review on Tuesday money that we and the nation can afford."