At the 3rd meeting of the Independent Fiscal Commission for Northern Ireland, Commission members met with Gerald Holtham, the Chair of the Independent Commission on Funding & Finance for Wales (the Holtham Commission) which was established in 2008.
The Holtham Commission examined the funding arrangements and assessed the case for increasing Wales’s taxation and borrowing powers, publishing its final report and recommendations in July 2010.
Commission members discussed the rationale behind the recommendations made by the Holtham Commission and reflected on some of wider political, economic and socioeconomic changes that had occurred since the Holtham Commission had reported, and their likely impacts in a Northern Ireland context. Commission members also had the opportunity to discuss points of process, gaining valuable insight into some of the aspects that worked well, and some of the lessons learned from the Welsh experience.