I've been interested to read recently increasing press coverage of the Barnett formula and calls for its revision, and this post follows on from Lee Waters' initial posting on Barnett here a few weeks ago. We've once again seen Lord Barnett himself being very critical and calling for a change, yet Paul Murphy has warned against any revision.
We've also seen increasing discussion in Scotland about fiscal autonomy and at least the beginnings of the debate about ditching the Barnett Formula as a quid pro quo for some kind of fiscal autonomy.
Where does all of this leave the debate in Wales? The one thing that is lacking is robust independent analysis of the impact of funding according to need on each of the nations and regions of the UK. Isn't it time that the debate in Wales moves on from the timidity of Murphy's response?
Surely the time is right to get our figures in order, to demonstrate quite clearly the impact of funding based on need. Does this matter? Of course it does, a thorough revision process could lead to Wales benefiting to the tune of tens of millions extra, if not potentially hundreds of millions extra - for health, education and economic development. So lets at least start the debate by getting some thorough independent analysis of the potential impact of revision on Wales.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
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8 comments:
'So lets at least start the debate by getting some thorough independent analysis of the potential impact of revision on Wales,'
What exactly in Wales is independent of political interference, of course we need to talk about how Wales is funded as well as what the money we get is spent on, WAG's priorities,
but you ain't gonna get any independent thinking with so many vested interested in the current financial system as needed and vital as that discussion is.
Overly cynical I suspect. There are at a UK level think tanks that specialise in finance orientated work e.g. the IFS, whose work is widely respected and recognised. There may be a gap in the market here for one of the Welsh think tanks, or possibly for one of the UK wide think tanks to do some work on Wales.
thanks for the response,
am i overly cynical, no just someone who has been having these discussions about the Block Grant and tax raising in Wales for Wales for the last 15 years with other Financiers and Economists and nobody in the Welsh Office, WAG or the Civil Service takes the issues seriously because of the political and financial vested interests in Wales and London.
We can discuss what we want and yes produce reports from the FSA etc, (there are already reports on aspects of this in circulation) but at the end of the day will the politicians in Cardiff Bay and Westminster take any notice of the outcomes and implement the reforms, not from what ive seen.
Couldn't agree more, which is why Sustrans, the BMA and the NAHT led calls this time last year for an independent commission modelled on the Richard Commission to look into the questions. It was later endorsed by all the teaching unions in Wales and the RCN. Despite initially rubbishing our demand, Rhodri Morgan later acquiesced and a unanimous motion was passed in the Assembly. But still we wait...
Could it be that if we in Wales start to question it could bring down a whole pack of cards. Barnett has never been held up as a state of the art way of assessing need, has it.
Its not just Wales, N Ireland, and Scotland that may "suffer".The far South of England and the North are very heavily subsidised.
I was asked recently if we do revise would we have to put in migration as a variable!
If we are going to get independent thinking then it has to be based on agreed parameters and indicators.
The job would be huge, but that shouldn't be a barrier, get on with it. I would not have a think tank do this work, get a group of our top Uni's to gather the information, then our top economists to work on interpretation and analysis. There isn't a think tank big enough in Wales to do this. Your Foundation is tiny, with so little capacity,which is a crying shame.IWA well they are more of a boys/girls club they don't have the rigour
Those of us in Wales should not underestimate the hostility that exists in England to devolution in general and to Wales' funding in particular. Far from Wales being hard done by by the Barnett formula, as many in Wales believe, the view on the other side of Offa's Dyke seems to be that we are over-subsidised and molly-coddled. Just look at blogs such as http://www.order-order.com/2008/03/welsh-pork-up-83.html, some of which is pretty racist.
So let's not be naive about what a review of the Barnett formula could bring.
reviewing Barnett will inevitably give Wales less of a share but the reason Labour Ministers in Wales are worried about this is because of the priorities that Welsh establishment have been namely health and education, our leaders have been totally lacking in courage and ideas for real sustainable economic development and wealth creation or all areas of Wales.
Economic Developmentand are not dirty words and the polices we have been totally inadequate in helping welsh business flourish or welsh workers raise their standard of living in many areas of Wales.
What bothers me most about Barnett is that it only provides a fair proportion of the *rise* in the budget. IF the underlying money provided for Wales is inequitable, there is no way of redressing the balance.
To take education as an example, there is hard evidence (in the form of Assembly research stats) that shows Welsh pupils getting at least £400 a year less than their English counterparts (there are different ways of counting that make this £650). That's about 7%.
This isn't about money reaching the schools - another matter entirely - but the amount of money spent on schools in Wales as opposed to schools in England.
So if Barnett merely maintains this difference, how are to ever get the Welsh figure up to that of England?
We should collect our own taxes in Wales and pay a proportion to the UK Treasury for UK issues. That'd make the London bloggers squeal... :-)
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