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"ringfenced" means what ?

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tien-sung

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Mr Osborne also announced real terms cuts across all government departments of 25% over four years - except health and foreign aid which are ringfenced --

the above sentence is quoted from today's BBC news

could you tell me " ringfenced " means what? , I can't find it in dictionary.


from tien-sung 2010 06 23 Taiwan
 
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Rover_KE

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It means that those departments are guaranteed to receive the same funding as before and will not face cuts.

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BobK

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The word 'ring-fenced' is often used in the financial world, especially of taxes that are 'hypothecated' - they are raised for a particular purpose, and can't be spent on anything else. The origin of the UK Income Tax was a hypothecated tax called - at the time - Ship money - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . It was raised by Charles I to finance a navy.

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