1 Introduction
1. The Chancellor and this Committee have agreed
the Committee should have a veto over the appointment and dismissal
of the Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility. This is
the first appointment to be subject to such a veto. In our subsequent
Report on the Office for Budget Responsibility, we recommended
that "We should also have the right to veto other BRC [Budget
Responsibility Committee] executive members proposed by the Chancellor".[1]
In his 12 October 2010 letter to the Chairman of this Committee,
the Chancellor also confirmed that:
These appointments will be subject to hearings before
the TSC. I have stated my intention to provide in legislation
for the TSC to have the power of veto over the appointment of
the Chair, and this would bestow upon the TSC more power over
this appointment than they currently have over any public appointment.
I now intend to extend this statutory power of veto to the appointment
of the Members of the BRC. I am taking this unprecedented step
because I want there to be absolutely no doubt that all the members
of the BRC leading the OBR are independent and have the support
and approval of the TSC.[2]
We welcome the Chancellor's commitment
to the provision of a statutory veto over the appointment and
dismissal of all the members of the Budget Responsibility Committee,
in line with our previous recommendation.
2. On 12 October 2010, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
wrote to the Chairman of this Committee to announce that his preferred
candidates to the Budget Responsibility Committee were Professor
Stephen Nickell and Graham Parker. In the same letter, the Chancellor
noted that "I hope in the case of Stephen Nickell you will
be able to arrange his hearing so that, should the Committee approve
this appointment, he would be able to take up this position in
time to join the BRC in producing the autumn forecast. Graham
Parker will of course continue in his role as interim OBR member
to deliver the OBR's responsibilities with respect to the Spending
Review before his hearing."[3]
Given the urgent need for the OBR to undertake its work on the
autumn forecast, on this occasion we were willing to conduct the
appointment hearings quickly. Once the OBR has been fully established,
we expect to be given better notice of such hearings. We
recommend that the Treasury ensure there is a two month gap between
announcing their recommendation for an appointment to the Budget
Responsibility Committee and the proposed starting date for that
candidate, so as to allow adequate time for the Treasury Committee
to arrange hearings, and consider the candidature properly.
3. Since the Treasury Committee now has a veto in
relation to the appointment and dismissal of members of the Budget
Responsibility Committee, we require further information above
and beyond that provided by candidates' responses to the questionnaire
we already obtain from them. We
recommend that the Treasury remind applicants to the Budget Responsibility
Committee that all application materials submitted to HM Treasury
will be made available to the Treasury Committee, on a confidential
basis.
4. We took oral evidence from Professor Stephen Nickell
and Graham Parker on 25 October 2010. This will be published shortly,
together with their answers to our questionnaires and their curriculum
vitae. We have considered their appointments in line with
our previous practice,[4]
using personal independence and professional competence as the
criteria against which we assess the suitability of the Chancellor's
proposed candidates.
1 Treasury Committee, Office for Budget Responsibility,
Fourth Report of Session 2010-11, HC 385, Para 107 Back
2
Letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Chairman of
the Treasury Select Committee, 12 October 2010 Back
3
Letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Chairman of
the Treasury Select Committee, 12 October 2010 Back
4
Treasury Committee, Third Report of Session 2010-11, Appointment
of Robert Chote as Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility,
HC 476-I, paras 2-6 Back
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