Devolved Budgeting, Formula Funding and Equity
Author: David Mayston
Publisher:
Published: 1998
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA key part of the New Public Sector in the UK has been an increased use of delegated budgeting in health and education. Initiatives such as the Local Management of Schools, GP-Fundholders and the Purchaser-Provider split in the National Health Service have required resources and associated budgets to be allocated down to smaller, more local entities than previously, on the basis of an explicit funding formula. This paper examines the relative merits of such a system of devoted budgeting and formula funding compared to other possible approaches to public sector budgeting from the viewpoint of the extent to which these different approaches are likely to promote equity in the funding of public services to disadvantaged groups. The paper illustrates the issues involved by reference both the UK experience and to the impact that health care funding formulae have on one particularly disadvantaged group in an otherwise advanced economy, namely the Aboriginal population of the Northern Territory of Australia.