HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Treasury appoints policy experts Chris Wales and Paul Gregg [August 1997]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 4 August 1997.

The Treasury has today announced the appointment of Chris Wales and Paul Gregg as policy experts to work alongside the Treasury teams dealing with, respectively, taxation and employment. They are the first appointments to the Council of Economic Advisers. The Council’s terms of reference are:

“To advise the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the design and implementation of policies for the achievement of the Government’s economic objectives.”

The creation of the Council of Economic Advisers follows the disbandment of the Panel of Independent Forecasters established under the previous Government.

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The Council of Economic Advisers is made up of individual policy experts who will bring their specialist experience to work alongside individual Treasury teams focussing on the Government’s key policy priorities.

Chris Wales moves from his position as tax partner in Arthur Andersen where he has worked in both the UK and Sweden. He has substantial experience of UK and international tax issues. His work has included projects involving financing structures and products, securitisation, cross-border leasing, acquisition finance and related structures, and treasury management.

He moved to Sweden in 1991, where he became head of the firm’s international tax practice there. In 1995 he returned full-time to London where he had a portfolio mainly comprising large corporate and financial sector clients, including US and European-based multinationals.

In addition to his work at the Treasury, Paul Gregg will continue to work part-time in his current position as Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. Before joining the LSE in 1995, he worked at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research from 1987-1994.

His current work at the LSE includes research into the dynamics of the UK labour market.