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All departments will have to reach agreement on cuts with the Treasury
Five Whitehall departments have reached spending agreements with the Treasury, ahead of next month's spending review.
The Treasury, Cabinet Office, Foreign Office plus the environment and communities departments have reached agreement on cutting their spending.
As a result ministers Eric Pickles and Caroline Spelman have joined the "star chamber", which rules on departments which cannot agree cuts.
Most government departments have been told to agree 25% cuts by next month.
Final agreements must be reached by all departments before Chancellor George Osborne outlines the results of his spending review on 20 October.
A Treasury spokesman confirmed the five departments had reached a "provisional" settlements with the chancellor - although the agreements were on day-to-day "resource" spending, not capital spending which will be decided separately by the star chamber committee.
Details of how much money each department has cut its budget by have not be revealed.
A spokesman said the Department of Communities and Local Government's agreement focused on cuts to the housing and regeneration budget, not money given to local authorities.
A special BBC News season examining the approaching cuts to public sector spending
The Spending Review: Making It Clear
Foreign Secretary William Hague, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and Mr Osborne were already on the public expenditure committee - known as the star chamber - a cabinet committee which will sit in judgement on those ministers who have not yet reached agreement on cuts with the Treasury.
A Treasury spokesman confirmed on Thursday that both Mr Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Environment Secretary Mrs Spelman had been appointed by the prime minister, on Mr Osborne's recommendation, to the committee.
He added: "This is because they have reached provisional departmental resource spending settlements. HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have also reached provisional settlements. Details of all departmental settlements will be published on 20th October."
One Treasury source suggested Eric Pickles was well-known as a "political bruiser" and that he would probably "enjoy holding some of his colleagues' feet to the fire".
BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti said the departments revealed were the smaller spending departments but the news was likely to put further pressure on the larger departments such as Work and Pensions, and Ministry of Defence to come to agreements.
Most Whitehall departments have been told to plan for savings of between 25% and 40%, part of the government's effort to tackle the £155bn budget deficit.
Labour argues that the plans could undermine the economic recovery and damage front line services, hitting the poor hardest.
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
All departments will have to reach agreement on cuts with the Treasury Five Whitehall departments have reached spending agreements with the Treasury, ahead of next month's spending review.
The Treasury, Cabinet Office, Foreign Office plus the environment and communities departments have reached agreement on cutting their spending.
As a result ministers Eric Pickles and Caroline Spelman have joined the "star chamber", which rules on departments which cannot agree cuts.
Most government departments have been told to agree 25% cuts by next month.
Final agreements must be reached by all departments before Chancellor George Osborne outlines the results of his spending review on 20 October.
A Treasury spokesman confirmed the five departments had reached a "provisional" settlements with the chancellor - although the agreements were on day-to-day "resource" spending, not capital spending which will be decided separately by the star chamber committee.
Details of how much money each department has cut its budget by have not be revealed.
A spokesman said the Department of Communities and Local Government's agreement focused on cuts to the housing and regeneration budget, not money given to local authorities.
A special BBC News season examining the approaching cuts to public sector spending
The Spending Review: Making It Clear
Foreign Secretary William Hague, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and Mr Osborne were already on the public expenditure committee - known as the star chamber - a cabinet committee which will sit in judgement on those ministers who have not yet reached agreement on cuts with the Treasury.
A Treasury spokesman confirmed on Thursday that both Mr Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Environment Secretary Mrs Spelman had been appointed by the prime minister, on Mr Osborne's recommendation, to the committee.
He added: "This is because they have reached provisional departmental resource spending settlements. HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have also reached provisional settlements. Details of all departmental settlements will be published on 20th October."
One Treasury source suggested Eric Pickles was well-known as a "political bruiser" and that he would probably "enjoy holding some of his colleagues' feet to the fire".
BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti said the departments revealed were the smaller spending departments but the news was likely to put further pressure on the larger departments such as Work and Pensions, and Ministry of Defence to come to agreements.
Most Whitehall departments have been told to plan for savings of between 25% and 40%, part of the government's effort to tackle the £155bn budget deficit.
Labour argues that the plans could undermine the economic recovery and damage front line services, hitting the poor hardest.
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.