At 3pm on Tuesday 16 December, the House of Lords Economic
Affairs Committee will hear evidence from:
- Laura Gardiner, Chief of Staff, Office for Budget
Responsibility (OBR)
- Tom Josephs, Member, Budget Responsibility Committee
- Prof. David Miles, Member, Budget Responsibility Committee.
This evidence session is part of the committee's inquiry on the
effectiveness of the UK's fiscal framework and its effect on the
Government's fiscal policy.
The session is open to the public and will be held in Committee
Room 2 of the House of Lords. It will also be streamed live and
on demand on Parliament TV.
Questions the committee is likely to cover in this session
include:
- What yardstick is used for assessing the OBR's performance?
- Is there a problem with rules requiring a tightening of
fiscal policy when economic growth is weak?
- Is the Government sufficiently clear in its public statements
about the OBR's role within the fiscal framework and its scope to
disagree with the OBR's assessment?
- How would witnesses characterise the OBR's relationship with
the Government? Will anything be reviewed in light of recent
events?
- Could the process by which the OBR reports and communicates
its analyses be improved?
- What is the OBR's approach to modelling, especially with
respect to dynamic scoring?
