The Treasury Select Committee has approved the appointment of Sir Charles Bean, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and currently Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, to join the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee.
The Chancellor nominated Sir Charles for the post in August 2016. The Committee approved the appointment on 13 September 2016, following a hearing before MPs.
Sir Charles will formally join the OBR at the beginning of 2017, replacing Sir Stephen Nickell. This means that Sir Stephen will still be in post for the Autumn Statement forecast later this year, with Sir Charles taking over in time for next year’s Budget forecast.
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 and Graham Parker.
Sir Charles spent fourteen years as a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, including six as Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy. He has published extensively on economic issues, most recently his independent review of UK economic statistics. After reading economics and mathematics at Cambridge, he began his career as an economic assistant in the Treasury’s short-term forecast division in 1975. He joined the LSE in 1982 and then moved to the Bank of England as Chief Economist in 2000. At various times he has served as an adviser to the Treasury and to Parliamentary committees, including the Treasury Committee.
The Treasury press release announcing the nomination can be found here.