The Chancellor of the Exchequer has nominated Andy King to join the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee (BRC) and Bronwyn Curtis OBE to join the OBR’s oversight board as a non-executive member.
Budget Responsibility Committee nomination
Andy is currently the Chief of Staff at the OBR. If the nomination is approved by the Treasury Select Committee, he would replace Graham Parker on the BRC at the beginning of September.
The three members of the Budget Responsibility Committee have executive responsibility for the core functions of the OBR, including the judgements reached in its forecasts. The other current members are Robert Chote (chairman) and Sir Charlie Bean.
Andy King has been Chief of Staff at the Office for Budget Responsibility since 2013. He joined the civil service as an economist in 1998, working in the Treasury until 2001 and at the British Embassy in Tokyo until 2005. Andy then worked in a range of macroeconomic policy roles at the Treasury, including heading the Fiscal Policy team for the June 2010 Budget and the Macroeconomic Coordination & Strategy team overseeing reforms to the UK monetary policy framework and UK-focused relations with international organisations.
In 2009-10, Andy worked as a macro-fiscal advisor in the Liberian Finance Ministry. He was appointed to the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department’s panel of technical experts in 2014, and has since advised several Finance Ministries in Africa and Asia on approaches to fiscal governance, reporting and forecasting.
Non-executive member appointment
Bronwyn Curtis OBE is a global financial economist who served senior executive positions in both the financial and media sectors. She has served as Chairman of the Society of Business (now Professional) Economists and a Council/Board Member of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. She has also held a number of roles on boards of academic institutions and is a patron of ProBono Economics. She has also worked as a consultant to the World Bank and UNCTAD on commodity projects in West Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
The oversight board is responsible for managing risks and safeguarding the independence of the OBR. Bronwyn Curtis joins Sir Christopher Kelly as a non-executive member of the Board.
Robert Chote, Chairman of the OBR said:
“I warmly welcome the Chancellor’s decision to nominate Andy King to the BRC and to appoint Bronwyn Curtis as one of our two non-executive members. Andy has made an enormous contribution to the OBR already as Chief of Staff and his wide and deep knowledge of the British public finances marks him out as a worthy successor to Graham Parker. Bronwyn brings many years of experience as a highly respected private sector economist and executive. She will be fantastic source of support and challenge, ensuring that we maintain and build on our reputation for independence, rigour and transparency.”
Read the Treasury press release announcing these nominations.