Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 February 2000.

Professor Stephen Nickell has been appointed to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Chancellor Gordon Brown announced today.

Professor Nickell is currently School Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). Professor Nickell will take up his membership of the MPC on 1 June. He will replace Professor Willem Buiter whose three-year term as a member of the MPC expires on 31 May. Professor Buiter has been appointed Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Gordon Brown said:

“I am delighted that Stephen Nickell has agreed to join the Monetary Policy Committee. He has had a long and distinguished academic career, and his expertise in such areas as the labour market and productivity growth will be of invaluable assistance to the work of the Committee.

“I am very grateful to Willem Buiter for his excellent contribution to the Committee’s work in the first three years of its existence, and wish him well in his new post.”

CURRICULUM VITAE

Name: STEPHEN JOHN NICKELL

Date of Birth: 25 April 1944

Nationality: British

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

1. 1962-65 BSc Mathematics
Pembroke College, Cambridge University

2. 1968-1970 MSc Mathematical Economics and Econometrics (distinction)
London School of Economics
Ely Devons Prize

EMPLOYMENT

1. 1998 – Date School Professor of Economics, London School of Economics

2. 1984 – 1998 Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of Oxford. Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College.

3. 1979-84 Professor of Economics, London School of Economics.

4. 1979 Visiting Research Associate, University of Princeton (Industrial Relations Section).

5. 1977-79 Reader in Economics, London School of Economics

6. 1974-75 Visiting Research Fellow, Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique, Paris.

7. 1970-77 Lecturer in Economics, London School of Economics

8. 1965-68 Mathematics Teacher, Hendon County School, London.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

General Academic Activities:

1973-87 Editorial Board, Review of Economic Studies

1974-75 Assistant Editor, Review of Economic Studies

1975-78 Joint Managing Editor, Review of Economic Studies

1977-79, Programme Committee, Econometric Society
1981-83 European Meetings

1980-85 Programme Committee, Econometric Society World Congress

1981-89 Treasury Academic Panel

1981- Associate Editor, Economic Journal

1983-87 Associate Editor, International Journal of Industrial Organization

1983- Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research

1984-98 Editor, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics

1984-94 Council, Royal Economic Society

1984-87 Economic Affairs Committee, ESRC (vice-chairman 1985-87)

1985-88 Founding Council Member, European Economic Association

1985 N&g Lecture, Austrian Economic Association

1987-93 Council, Econometric Society

1987-90 Research Grants Board, ESRC; Industry, Economics and Environment Research Development Group, ESRC

1987 President’s Lecture, Scottish Economic Association

1988-94 Scientific Council of the Center for Economic Research, University of Tilberg, Holland

1990-94 Chairman, Research Grants Board, ESRC;
Member of Council, ESRC

1990- Advisory Board of the Institute for International Economic Studies, University of Stockholm, Sweden

1990- Governor of the National Institute of Social and Economic Research

1992 Mitsui lectures, University of Birmingham

1994- International Board of Advisers of the Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam

1996- Labour Markets Panel, H.M. Treasury

1998 Adam Smith Lecture, European Association of Labour Economists

1999- Council, European Economic Association.

Academic Consulting:

H.M. Treasury; Manpower Services Commission; Department of Employment; Department of Health and Social Security; Economic and Social Research Council; Morgan Grenfell; Reserve Bank of New Zealand; OECD.

Academic Honours:

1980 Fellow of the Econometric Society

1993 Fellow of the British Academy

1997 Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association

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LETTER TO: THE RT HON GORDON BROWN MP FROM PROFESSOR WILLEM BUITER

I believe you have been informed by the Governor that I will not be a candidate for a second term as external member of the MPC. I am writing to you to explain the reason for this decision.

It was a singular honour to be appointed a member of the MPC. My period on the Committee has been the high point of my professional career. Membership of the MPC is the most rewarding responsibility a monetary economist can aspire to.

Your decision to grant operational independence over the conduct of monetary policy to the Bank of England was a bold and imaginative move. So was your insistence that the sole criteria for membership of the MPC would be professional competence and independence. The division of labour between the elected political authority which sets the target of monetary policy, and the appointed MPC charged with the pursuit of this target, without political interference of any kind, is a model of how a monetary authority should be designed. Even those who were sceptical at first must now be convinced of the wisdom of its design and implementation: the clear, numerical and symmetric inflation target, the existence of the ‘open letter procedure’, the transparency and openness of the arrangements and the accountability of those who participate in it. There is now a widely-based constituency for low inflation. There is growing awareness of the sometimes uncomfortable truth, that it is through the uncompromising pursuit of macroeconomic stability for the country as a whole, that we best serve the long-term interests of all its citizens and of its diverse regions, sectors and industries.

With the end of my term approaching, I have given considerable thought to whether I should be a candidate for re-appointment. I have come to the conclusion that both the appearance and the substance of independence of the external members of the MPC are best served by restricting their membership to a single term – three years as envisaged in the Bank of England Act 1998. Come May 2000, I will have served for three years, one year under the interim arrangement in effect between June 1997 and the coming into force of the new Bank of England Act, and the two-year term I was appointed to in June 1998, as part of the procedure for staggering the appointments of the external members.

Having reached the conclusion that, as a matter of principle, external members should be appointed for a single term only, I cannot in good faith claim special circumstances for myself, much as I feel tempted to do so. The past 2_ years have exceeded all my expectations. The new arrangements have worked and the UK’s model of central banking compares favourably with best practice elsewhere. I will look back with gratitude and a measure of pride on my term as a member.

I hope that, in the years to come, I will be able to support in some other capacity, the process of progressive, radical reform of policies and institutions in this country, which is now my home. I want to thank you personally for having given me the opportunity to be part of the process of embedding macroeconomic stability in the UK in a set of rules and institutions that will stand the test of time.

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REPLY TO: PROFESSOR WILLEM BUITER FROM THE CHANCELLOR

Thank you for your letter of 18 January.

I would like to thank you very sincerely for the excellent work you have done on the Monetary Policy Committee. You have played a significant role in helping to establish the credibility of the new institutional framework.

I am delighted you enjoyed your time on the Committee and I wish you every success for the future.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 February 2000.

The Chancellor Gordon Brown today spelt out the benefits of devolution and how working together the whole of Britain could rise to the challenge of e-commerce.

Chairing the first Joint Ministerial Committee on the Knowledge Economy, and also the first to be held outside London the Chancellor said:

“Today we are agreeing measures which will help us rise to challenge of e-commerce.

“By 2002 every school to be linked to the Internet. 1,000 computer learning centres throughout the country. 200,000 computers loaned to families who need them. New incentives for small businesses to join the e-commerce revolution.

“Amid the day to day news about devolution, it is important not to lose sight of the longer view.

“The case for devolution starts from the over-centralised, remote and insensitive machinery of government that we inherited in 1997.

“The old uniform and rigid state – with everything directed from London – denied expression to our regions and nations. So devolution does not create new identities within Britain but simply gives democratic expression to existing identities.

“And centralisation did not make for good government, nor does a centralised state reflect lasting and shared British values .

“So there is no question of a dangerous meddling with British traditions and the constitutional reforms we made were not invented in a laboratory. They responded to the strong sense that our constitution should be updated to reflect enduring and shared British values – not least that government should always be close to the people.

“The new democratic constitutional architecture not only rights past wrongs but better equips Britain for the future. The new devolved institutions allow for innovation in policy making.

“The proposed Drugs Enforcement Agency in Scotland may, once up and running, lead the way for the whole country. The Welsh Assembly has introduced new services for the elderly, leading, not least, in concessionary travel. And added to that is the innovative work of regional development agencies in England tackling skill shortages and the investment shortfall in their areas.

“It is good for Britain that new centres of initiative are already developing. Because in the new devolved framework, the whole of Britain can learn and benefit from the distinctive initiatives and energies of each of its parts. In a very real sense the new Britain can draw both from our democracy and our diversity.

“Those who assume that the next stage will be dominated by messy arguments about dividing up the spoils or simply by confrontation are also guilty of being backward looking – still looking only to Whitehall to solve their problems, arguing over who the centre will favour.

“Instead of people looking upwards to Whitehall for their solutions, from region to region, locality to locality, more and more people will themselves take more charge of the decisions that affect their lives. So the next stage will be further devolution and, through, for example, elected mayors, the democratic strengthening of local government.

“This does not threaten Britain – and its democracy – but strengthens it, applying lasting British values to new conditions. So British values and British institutions, until recently increasingly at odds with each other, are now coming together.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 14 February 2000.

Lucy de Groot has been appointed as a new Deputy Director in the Treasury’s Public Services Directorate and becomes the first person to be appointed to a Treasury post of this kind from outside the civil service.

Currently working for the Audit Commission, Lucy de Groot, 48, was previously Chief Executive of Bristol City Council. She brings with her wide experience of local government and delivery of public services.

The main objective of the Public Services Directorate is to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of public services while keeping within the Government’s fiscal plans.

Amongst Ms de Groot’s initial tasks will be to focus on the Spending Review which will set the Government’s spending plans for the years 2001-04, together with clear objectives and targets for all departments and cross-departmental programmes.

Ms de Groot will be managing the teams dealing with education, housing, urban policy and social exclusion, transport, culture, rural and agriculture policy, the environment, defence and foreign affairs.

Ms de Groot has been working at the Audit Commission on a temporary basis with the new Best Value Inspectorate. She was appointed as the Chief Executive of Bristol City Council in 1995 in the lead up to the local government reorganisation. She has extensive experience in the management of public services and in cross-sectoral partnerships.

Prior to her appointment as Chief Executive, Ms de Groot was the Head of Policy in Bristol City Council and the London Borough of Lewisham. Ms de Groot has also worked in a number of not-for profit organisations dealing with adult education, housing, employment and economic development.

A graduate of Oxford University and the London School of Economics, she has been a non-Executive Director on the Board of Employment Service since the summer of 1998.

She takes up her post at the Treasury on 13 March.