INSIDE VIEW

摘要

Sharing isn't easy. 1 cut, you choose,' might be the time-honoured way parents use in dividing the spoils of cake. But since 1929, when formula funding made its first appearance in local government; attempts to engineer a rational distribution of funds have hit a few problems. In the week when communities secretary, Eric Pickles, invited local authorities to enter the exciting new era of business rate reform, the National Audit Office issued a timely landscape review into formula funding of local public services, which accounts for £ 152bn, roughly one-fifth of annual government expenditure.