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The Barnett formula is a mechanism used by the Treasury in the United Kingdom to automatically adjust the amounts of public expenditure allocated to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to reflect changes in spending levels allocated to public services in England, England and Wales or Great Britain, as appropriate. The formula applies to a large proportion, but not the whole, of the devolved Governments' budgets − in 2013-14 it applied to about 85% of the Scottish Parliament's total budget.〔Barnett Formula definition in Scottish Draft Budget 2013-14 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/09/7829/22〕 The formula is named after Joel Barnett, who devised it in 1978〔http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2763744/I-demand-shamefully-unfair-Barnett-Formula-scrapped-LORD-BARNETT-architect-hated-subsidy-Scotland.html〕 while Chief Secretary to the Treasury, as a short-term solution to minor Cabinet disputes in the runup to planned political devolution in 1979. Despite the failure of that initiative, the formula was retained to facilitate additional administrative devolution in the Conservative Governments of 1979 to 1997 under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and then in the context of the political devolution of the Labour Governments led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and the coalition Government of David Cameron. The Government still declares its intention to continue to use it as the basis for funding the three devolved governments. The Barnett formula is said to have "no legal standing or democratic justification",〔(Timothy Edmonds, The Barnett Formula ), Economic Policy and Statistics Section, House of Commons Library, Research Paper 01/108, 30 November 2001, pp 10-13〕 and, being merely a convention, could be changed at will by the Treasury. In recent years, Barnett himself has called it a "terrible mistake".〔http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11100400/My-funding-formula-for-Scotland-is-a-terrible-mistake-Lord-Barnett-admits.html〕 In 2009, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Barnett Formula concluded that "the Barnett Formula should no longer be used to determine annual increases in the block grant for the United Kingdom's devolved administrations... A new system which allocates resources to the devolved administrations based on an explicit assessment of their relative needs should be introduced."〔HoL Select Committee on the Barnet Formula, Summary, paragraphs 4 & 6, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldbarnett/139/13903.htm〕 Following the September 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the Barnett formula came to widespread attention amid concerns that in a last-minute government bid to sway voters against independence, Scotland had been promised continued high public spending.〔http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/1580787/How-the-Barnett-formula-works.html〕 ==How the formula works== The formula consists of a baseline plus increases to central Government funding to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland based on increases in public spending in England in comparable programmes, applied in proportion to current populations:〔〔http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/19/what-is-barnett-formula-how-work-scotland-wales-northern-ireland〕 For example, in 2000, the Scottish and Welsh populations were taken to be 10.34% and 5.93% (respectively) of England's population. For programmes in the Department of Health, the comparability factor for Scotland and Wales was 99.7%. Therefore, if £1 billion was to be added to planned health expenditure in England, then the extra amount added to the Scottish block, compared to the year before, would be £1bn x 10.34% x 99.7% = £103 million, and the amount added to the Welsh block would be £1bn x 5.93% x 99.7% = £59.1 million.〔 The original calculation was based on incorrect population estimates, and no attempt was made to adjust the baseline for these errors〔http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/11108848/Scottish-Referendum-My-Barnett-Formula-needs-to-be-tackled-now-but-no-politician-will.html〕 though changes in expenditure are based on more current population numbers. The formula applies only to expenditure on issues which the devolved administrations (as opposed to UK central government) are responsible for. Its principle is that any increase or reduction in expenditure in England will automatically lead to a proportionate increase or reduction in resources for the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Analogous arrangements apply to categories of expense which are only controlled by some of the devolved governments. The formula is not applied to all public expenditure, but is the default option if no other decisions are made. Expenditure is allocated ''en bloc'', not by service, allowing each devolved administration to allocate these funds as it believes appropriate. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Barnett formula」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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