IELTS Essay Question
The table and charts below give information on the police budget for 2017 and 2018 in one area of Britain. The table shows where the money came from and the charts show how it was distributed.
Plan your answer
Sample Answer
The table gives data on different sources of the police budget in an unnamed part of Britain, while the pie charts compare how the money was used for different purposes in two different years. Overall, the total amount of the police budget increased slightly during this time frame and the majority of it was spent on salaries.
In 2017, the total budget stood at 304.7 million pounds and this figure rose to 318.6 million pounds one year later. More than half of this came from the national government, a figure that increased from over 175 million pounds in 2017 to nearly 178 million pounds in 2018. Local taxes were the second biggest contributor, providing just over 102 million pounds in 2018, an increase of more than 10 million pounds, while the remaining figure, around 38 million pounds, came from other sources, such as grants.
Turning to the pie charts, in 2017 the vast majority, 75% of the total budget, was spent paying the salaries of officers and staff, but this number decreased to 69% in 2018. During the same period, while spending on buildings and transport remained unchanged, at 17%, the figure for technology nearly doubled to 14%.
Useful vocabulary
- during this time frame = during the given period
- spend money on something/doing something = to give money to pay for goods, services, etc.
- contributor (n) = a person or thing that provides money or goods to help pay for or support something
- grant (n) = a sum of money that is given by the government or by another organization to be used for a particular purpose
- remained unchanged = stay the same
- double (v) = to become, or make something become, twice as much or as many
