Public Finance

Professor Alan Trench (Ulster) The funding of the Northern Ireland Executive (and other devolved governments) has always been central to their ability to provide the public services for which they are responsible. It affects all policy areas, as well as being important in its own right. But since 2007 there have been debates in both Scotland and Wales about financial issues, which increasingly challenge the idea of devolved governments simply relying on a block grant calculated on the basis of the Barnett formula. In Wales, there have been calls for a grant based on relative need, and for increasing reliance