Who we are

Budget Responsibility Committee

The OBR is led by the three members of the Budget Responsibility Committee (BRC). They have executive responsibility for the core functions of the OBR, including the judgements reached in its forecasts. They are:

Photograph of Richard Hughes

Richard Hughes

Chair

Formerly Director of Fiscal Policy and Acting Chief Economist at HM Treasury, Division Chief in the International Monetary Fund, Research Associate at the Resolution Foundation, Advisor to the French Government, and Visiting Lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris and the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford.

Photograph of David Miles

Prof. David Miles CBE

Member of the Budget Responsibility Committee

Formerly member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England and Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley. Currently holds a Professorship at Imperial College, London, and is a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland.

Tom Josephs

Member of the Budget Responsibility Committee

Formerly Director for Private Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions, Director of Fiscal Group at HM Treasury, Director of Trade Policy at the Department for International Trade, Senior Economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund, and the OBR’s first Chief of Staff.

Permanent staff of the OBR

The BRC are supported in their work by the OBR’s permanent staff of 52 civil servants, led by Steve Farrington. The staff work in teams covering: economic forecasting and analysis; fiscal forecasting and analysis; welfare forecasting and analysis; sustainability analysis; and strategy, communications and operations. OBR staff vacancies are advertised openly where possible and applications for externally advertised posts are welcome from both inside and outside the civil service.

The OBR has a strong commitment to equality and diversity, so it’s important our employees come from the widest possible range of backgrounds, bringing us the widest possible range of perspectives and ways of thinking. As part of our ongoing efforts in this area, in our 2022-23 Annual report and accounts the Oversight Board committed to staff diversity targets on the basis of gender and ethnic background. The initial date for the achievement of these targets is September 2025, and we will report against them in our annual report each year.

Oversight Board

The OBR’s Oversight Board ensures that effective arrangements are in place to provide assurance on risk management, governance and internal control. It consists of the three members of the BRC, plus the non-executive members, currently Dame Susan Rice and Baroness Sarah Hogg.

Advisory panel

The Office for Budget Responsibility established an advisory panel of leading economic and fiscal experts in 2011 to help develop and scrutinise its work programme and forecasting methods. Since then, we have held regular meetings in which we have discussed our work priorities, core publications, and analytical approaches. The panel was revised and expanded in 2023 to include a wider range of experts across six different aspects of our work.

Thinktank roundtable

Since 2020, the OBR has also conducted periodic roundtables with a set of thinktanks with standing macroeconomic expertise to discuss recent economic and fiscal developments and issues that are relevant to our forecasts and analysis. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, Institute for Government, National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and Resolution Foundation have regularly participated in these discussions and shared their insights.

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