The Chancellor today (5 June) announced Richard Hughes as his preferred candidate for the Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)
The statutory term of the current Chair of the OBR, Robert Chote, comes to an end later this year. Mr Chote was the first permanent Chair of the OBR and has served two terms since his initial appointment in 2010.
Richard Hughes is currently a Research Associate at the Resolution Foundation and Advisor to the IMF, and brings twenty years’ experience to the role, having worked on economic and fiscal issues both outside and inside of government.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said:
Richard Hughes said:
The OBR has executive responsibility for producing the official UK economic and fiscal forecasts, assessing the Government’s performance against its fiscal rules and reporting on the sustainability of and risks to the public finances. As an independent institution, the OBR is committed to providing objective, transparent and impartial analysis.
The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) approve all appointments to the Budget Responsibility Committee, including the chairman. Following the Chancellor’s announcement today, Richard will appear before the TSC for a pre-appointment hearing in due course.
As with all Treasury appointments, the recruitment process for the next OBR Chair was designed to ensure that the most qualified candidate was appointed from the broadest possible pool of applicants.