The Treasury has yet to receive a single submission from any government department about how they propose to cut their budgets. The deadline is tomorrow.

Every department is expected to have come up with their initial ideas of how to cut their budget by 25% and, just to make life more interesting, 40% too.

One minister tells me that "It's been horrible but it's what we were elected to do". Another joked - rather macabrely - that they'd lined up a little girl grasping a teddy bear to front up their campaign to avoid the axe.

The Treasury warn that this is the time when departments parade "bleeding stumps" - leaking stories about which worthy individual, cause or community will suffer if they are made to deliver painful cuts.

The word at the Department for Energy and Climate is that they have "radioactive bleeding stumps" - a reference to the huge cost of decommissioning nuclear power stations which is a large part of their budget.

Next week the PEX Committee - that's Whitehall's name for the new Public Expenditure Committee chaired by the chancellor - will meet to examine who is on track and who has more work to do.

Summer - normally a quiet time for ministers and their officials - may be rather more lively than usual.

