Holtham tells them what they want to hear...*

A commission considering the way the assembly government is funded says Wales is losing out by £300m a year.

The commission chair, economist Gerald Holtham, warned the underfunding could reach £8.5bn over the next decade, or £2,900 for everyone living in Wales.

The report, for Welsh ministers, concludes that a new funding formula is needed to reflect the actual cost of providing services for Wales.

A further report on taxation and borrowing powers will follow next year.

The commission was established as part of the coalition deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru after the assembly election two years ago.

Mr Holtham said the Barnett formula, drawn up by the Labour government in the late 1970s, was "arbitrary" and in "urgent need of reform".

When the UK government increases funding for departments such as health and education in England, the formula is used to decide how much money the devolved governments in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast receive.

The needs-based system the commission favours would take into account factors such as the age of the population and levels of poverty.

Mr Holtham admitted the commission did not suggest any "magic bullet" to replace the Barnett system.

He indicated the commission's second report, due around the middle of 2010, would include research on what should be included in a new needs based formula.

*... and what the rest of us already expected.

The Commission will be:

Looking at the pros and cons of the present formula-based approach to the distribution of public expenditure resources to the Welsh Assembly Government; and identifying possible alternative funding mechanisms including the scope for the Welsh Assembly Government to have tax varying powers as well as greater powers to borrow.

Timetable

The Commission began work in autumn 2008 and reported to the Welsh Assembly Government Ministers on the first part of its remit in July 2009.

The Commission is due to report to the Assembly Government on the second part of its work in summer 2010.

Slugger Political Awards Report: Changing not circling the political process

The Slugger Awards have just taken place in Belfast, described thus

For the last six years, with all its various eyes and ears, Slugger O’Toole has been a particularly avid watcher of the political scene. We have endeavored to pick up and share the best journalism and research and keep a close eye on Northern Ireland’s nascent political process. In our own informal way, we’ve acted more as a critical friend than fawning acolyte or jaded oppositionalist.

At Slugger we think that we have a fantastic opportunity to improve politics in a way that institutional reformers will never be able to. We want to reward better politicians, better politics and better governance. We’d like to reward those that have succeeded in reaching out to the public and involving them more effectively in local governance.

So today, with the support of our launch sponsors, Stratagem NI Ltd, we are announcing The Slugger Awards 2008.

Rather than bloggers patting bloggers on the back, this was an award ceremony where a blog is giving awards to other players in politics for "conversational politics".

The work that Slugger is doing is (as far as I know) unique in this country: a blog having a measure of impact in seeking to strengthen the political process, rather than simply trying to make different things happen using the existing political process. That's what we need for blogs to fulfil their potential.

Slugger Awards Podcast

The Digital Circle podcast from Sims Digital Media reported on the event (and the audio is on my Wardman Wire post).

Other reports of the awards

• Alan in Belfast: The Slugger Awards - for the wee guy and the big names. (Good personal report)
• NALIL - North Antrim Local Interest List: NALIL - Slugger Political Blogger of 2008 (award winner)
• Daithi McKay (Short report)
• Crea8ivity (Good summary. Damn and blast people who use hard to type names for their blogs!)
• Young Unionists (Brief)
• Redemption's Son

Who won the Slugger Awards?
(Reformatted from the Awards site).

• Best MLA: Naomi Long for her speechcraft and fluent (and combative) contributions to Assembly debates. And for getting Alliance noticed!
• Up and coming politician: Daithi McKay for his work on the Giant’s Causeway controversy (his one of three winners whose award related explicitly to that particular issue).
• Local Council: Belfast City Council, for scale and profile and running a tidy fiscal ship but also for its leadership role in the Open Cities initiative.
• Local Councillor: Deirdre Nelson, one of a new generation of outward looking local councillors.
• Journalism: David Gordon by proving that not everyone in the world of mainstream media has succumbed to ‘Churnalism’.
• Best blogger: Mr Nevin Taggart, who by diligence and close attention to local affairs proves that you don’t have to be big to be clever.
• Assembly Committee Chair: Danny Kennedy.
• Local Newspaper: Impartial Reporter (Fermanagh) has stuck to its last and consistently brings real news and strong analysis to its local readership.
• Representatives external to Northern Ireland: Peter Robinson for marshalling his disparate band of troops and leaving Westminster a calling card that he’s now the man back in town.
• Jobsworth Award: Assembly Commission.

Wrapping Up

In my view this is an example for the other countries in the UK. The interesting question is this:

How long will it be before any "mainland" blogs are taken sufficiently seriously to be able to mount such a set of awards in London, Cardiff or Edinburgh (or - I suppose - in Brussels)?

I don't think I have seen any reporting of the Awards in the British press or on British blogs. That is a pity - NI is streets ahead of any other part of the UK in this respect, helped by the fact that politicians in Northern Ireland perhaps haven't realised yet that they are supposed to be an Elite living in a bubble. Long may this ignorance continue.

[Update: formatting tidied.]