This week was a busy week in Parliament, dominated by the budget. I think people now recognise that it is probably better to pass judgement when all the various details and background papers have been studied in order to get a fuller picture, than jump to conclusions. However, it would be churlish not to welcome the broad package of measures announced by the Chancellor.

We have been calling for more spending on the NHS and he has delivered, indeed, somewhat more than expected. Providing this is not another recycling of previously announced spending, it should begin to tackle the underfunding in the Health Service, which has existed for many years.

Education does not seem to be quite as important as when Mr Blair made his famous statement, but again I welcome the new money for schools. Whether this is in time to save some teachers jobs is debatable.

There are, however, two rather glaring omissions amongst the budget hype and these are on pensions and agriculture. The £50 addition to the winter fuel payment for the elderly may not have sounded quite so generous, if it had been announced as £1 a week. Added to the 75p increase in the basic pension it remains woefully short of what a pensioner needs and what they should expect in order to share fully in the country's prosperity.

The crisis in agriculture was not even mentioned, and we can only hope the farmers summit on March 30 will bring forth come good news for them. The Chancellor seems completely enamoured of the new Dot Com businesses, which have been given extraordinary tax concessions. I fear that modernisation and modern business have seized the agenda, and staple businesses like agriculture and manufacturing are to be ignored.

No doubt over the next few days further analysis will reveal the true impact of the budget on public services and taxpayers' pockets. Somehow I cannot quite believe the Chancellor has eradicated so-called 'boom and bust' from the economy, neither do I think he can ignore the fact that our trade deficit has risen to £20bn because of cheap imports and difficulties in exporting.

Time will tell, of course, but it is difficult not initially to welcome the package and hope we see the fruits of the spending very soon in falling waiting lists and reduced class sizes.