The geography of resource allocation for welfare

The preceding chapters in this book have demonstrated a considerable variability in levels of public service provision by authorities in the UK, which are determined partly by population characteristics affecting needs, but also by differences in government policy and ideology at the local or national scale. The desirability of this variation depends upon the view one adopts of territorial and individual social justice. In Chapter 1 it was suggested that an equitable distribution of public goods would not necessarily be an equal distribution. According to Davies’s (1968 ) concept of territorial justice, provision of resources for public services in an area should correspond to the socially agreed needs of the population to consume those services; the problem of defining social justice is considered in Chapter 8 . This chapter examines some of the processes by which public resources are allocated to provide welfare services and the extent to which population need and local circumstances affect this distribution.