New Inquiry Announced into Office for Budget Responsibility

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was established on 17 May 2010 as an interim body. It was headed by a Budget Responsibility Committee of three:  Sir Alan Budd, .Geoffrey Dicks and Graham Parker, and had a secretariat of eight.  One of the tasks of the Interim OBR was to provide advice on the arrangements for the permanent OBR, and this has now been published.

The OBR’s advice, and its full remit

Legislation is expected in autumn. The Treasury Committee has decided to hold a swift inquiry to consider how that legislation should be framed.

The Committee’s inquiry will:

• assess the arrangements proposed by the Interim OBR;
• consider alternative arrangements and international comparisons.

The Committee would welcome evidence on this inquiry, to supplement the oral evidence already announced. It would be particularly interested in evidence on:

• the remit of the permanent OBR’
• appropriate means of ensuring both independence and accountability;
• appropriate resources for the OBR.

The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Friday August 13 2010.

NOTES ON SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN EVIDENCE

Written evidence should be in Word or rich text format—not PDF format—and sent by e-mail to treascom@parliament.uk The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from. The deadline is 12 noon on Friday 13 August 2010. Submissions should be no longer than 3000 words. Submissions should be in the format of a self-contained memorandum. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include an executive summary. Further guidance on the submission of evidence can be found at www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/witness.cfm.

 Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure; the Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

For data protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.