ESRC DEVOLUTION REVIEW 10 MARCH 2006
An influential think-tank of academics has criticised devolution by claiming it has left Scotland lagging behind England and has put strain on the United Kingdom.
The government-backed Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) said that after almost seven years the "jury is still out" on whether devolution has boosted the economy.
The group has monitored the constitutional settlement since 2000, led by an Edinburgh University professor. It claims Scottish decision-makers are wedded to traditional policies on key public services compared with their more innovative counterparts in England.
The views will be aired today at a conference in London attended by some of the country's top constitutional experts. Lord Falconer, lord chancellor, will give a keynote speech in which he will defend the decision to create a Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
However, the conference will hear that although Scots "like self-government", and despite important policy developments such as free long-term care for the elderly, there is "a perverse tendency still to judge the success of devolved policies against targets set by Westminster for England".
The comments are due to come from Professor Charlie Jeffery, director of the ESRC's devolution programme and professor of politics at Edinburgh University. He will argue that economic growth in Scotland post-1999 has been largely fuelled by public sector spending and that private-sector employment and overall economic growth have been weaker in Scotland, and Wales, than parts of England since devolution began.
"It is not yet apparent whe-ther the move towards self-government has, as expected, led to robust economic growth," he will say.
Professor Jeffery will also note: "One of the key findings of the entire (research) project has been that we do not have a capacity to think UK-wide anymore and that signals trouble."
The conference will hear that the absence of disputes be-tween Holyrood and Westminster is "unlikely to persist for long" and that "astonishingly" there have been no meetings of the joint ministerial committee, set up to resolve them, since October 2002, despite a requirement to meet every year.
It will also hear that disputes between centres of power are a "necessary and proper part of the function of a devolved system of government".
On the issue of shared values north and south of the border post-devolution, the conference will be told that there has been "remarkable congruence", except that "Scots are far more attached to comprehensive education and believe that we do not give enough support to unemployed people".
While England has become a "laboratory for policy innovation", Scotland chooses to "stick to more traditional policy agendas in health and education".
According to the professor: "It is England that has diverged on health service indicators like waiting lists and hospital league tables, the introduction of private finance in public service provision and the so-called 'choice agenda' which underlies policy on league tables and diversity of pro-viders in education."
Statistics will be unveiled at the conference that will show one possible result of devolution is to widen economic disparities between the various parts of the UK.
The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training on social and economic issues.
An influential think-tank of academics has criticised devolution by claiming it has left Scotland lagging behind England and has put strain on the United Kingdom.
The government-backed Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) said that after almost seven years the "jury is still out" on whether devolution has boosted the economy.
The group has monitored the constitutional settlement since 2000, led by an Edinburgh University professor. It claims Scottish decision-makers are wedded to traditional policies on key public services compared with their more innovative counterparts in England.
The views will be aired today at a conference in London attended by some of the country's top constitutional experts. Lord Falconer, lord chancellor, will give a keynote speech in which he will defend the decision to create a Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
However, the conference will hear that although Scots "like self-government", and despite important policy developments such as free long-term care for the elderly, there is "a perverse tendency still to judge the success of devolved policies against targets set by Westminster for England".
The comments are due to come from Professor Charlie Jeffery, director of the ESRC's devolution programme and professor of politics at Edinburgh University. He will argue that economic growth in Scotland post-1999 has been largely fuelled by public sector spending and that private-sector employment and overall economic growth have been weaker in Scotland, and Wales, than parts of England since devolution began.
"It is not yet apparent whe-ther the move towards self-government has, as expected, led to robust economic growth," he will say.
Professor Jeffery will also note: "One of the key findings of the entire (research) project has been that we do not have a capacity to think UK-wide anymore and that signals trouble."
The conference will hear that the absence of disputes be-tween Holyrood and Westminster is "unlikely to persist for long" and that "astonishingly" there have been no meetings of the joint ministerial committee, set up to resolve them, since October 2002, despite a requirement to meet every year.
It will also hear that disputes between centres of power are a "necessary and proper part of the function of a devolved system of government".
On the issue of shared values north and south of the border post-devolution, the conference will be told that there has been "remarkable congruence", except that "Scots are far more attached to comprehensive education and believe that we do not give enough support to unemployed people".
While England has become a "laboratory for policy innovation", Scotland chooses to "stick to more traditional policy agendas in health and education".
According to the professor: "It is England that has diverged on health service indicators like waiting lists and hospital league tables, the introduction of private finance in public service provision and the so-called 'choice agenda' which underlies policy on league tables and diversity of pro-viders in education."
Statistics will be unveiled at the conference that will show one possible result of devolution is to widen economic disparities between the various parts of the UK.
The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training on social and economic issues.