Office for Budget
Responsibility publishes its advice to the Chancellor on the
permanent body
Issued by the News
Distribution Service on behalf of the Office for Budget
Responsibility (OBR)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has published its
formal advice to the Chancellor on how the body should be
established on a permanent basis.
The Terms of Reference for the interim OBR stated that it should
provide advice on arrangements for establishing the body on a
permanent, statutory basis. Earlier today, Alan Budd, Geoffrey
Dicks and Graham Parker wrote to the Chancellor with their advice.
The advice draws on experiences of interim OBR’s work for the
Budget and the main recommendations are:
· the OBR should produce forecasts for the economy and public
finances;
· forecasts should be produced at least twice a year and
include the official Budget forecast;
· the OBR should undertake broader analysis of fiscal sustainability;
· the technical independence of the OBR should be enhanced
through the transfer of analytical capacity from the Treasury to
the OBR;
· the OBR should employ a mix of external recruits and Treasury
secondees to produce forecasts and analysis;
· Parliament should have a role in the appointment of the members
of the Budget Responsibility Committee; and
· the OBR should be located outside the Treasury building.
Sir Alan Budd, Chair of the interim Budget
Responsibility Committee said:
"My advice to the Chancellor sets out my recommendations
for establishing the OBR as a leading independent fiscal
institution. It will inevitably take time to settle in, but I am
confident that the OBR will play a substantial part in enhancing
the quality of fiscal policy-making."
Notes for Editors
1. The letter of advice is available at: http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk
2. The Terms of Reference for the OBR are available at:
http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/d/terms_of_reference.pdf
Media enquiries should be sent to the OBR press spokesperson:
OBRpress@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
Non-media enquiries should be sent to the OBR’s correspondence address:
OBRenquiries@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
This press notice and other OBR publications are available on the
OBR website:
www.independent.gov.uk/budgetresponsibility
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