To mark the 10th anniversary of the OBR, and Robert Chote’s tenure as it’s Chair, the Society of Professional Economists is delighted to host this special evening seminar on the rescheduled date of Thursday 24 September. This event is to be held as a Live Webinar.

17.00  Welcome and Introduction
           Kevin Daly, Chair, SPE

17.05  The OBR at 10 - Lessons Learned and Challenges for the Future
           Robert Chote, Chair, OBR

17.35  Results of the External Review of the OBR
           Scherie Nicol, OECD

17.50  The OBR and HM Treasury - Policy in Practice
           Clare Lombardelli, Chief Economic Advisor, HM Treasury

18.05  The OBR - Looking to the Future
           Richard Hughes, Incoming Chair, OBR

18.20  Panel discussion moderated by Kevin Daly

19.00  Close of event

Robert Chote has been Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility since October 2010, having been reappointed for a second five-year term in 2015. He also chairs the OECD’s network of parliamentary budget officials and independent fiscal institutions, as well as the external advisory group of the Irish parliamentary budget office. Previously Robert served as Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 2002 to 2010, as an advisor to senior management at the International Monetary Fund from 1999 to 2002, as Economics Editor of the Financial Times from 1995 to 1999, and as an economics and business writer on the Independent and Independent on Sunday from 1990 to 1994.

Scherie Nicol currently works at the Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Scherie does research in Public Finance.

Clare Lombardelli is the Chief Economic Advisor to the Treasury and joint head of the Government Economic Service.  Clare oversees the Treasury’s work on economic and fiscal policy and analysis.  She jointly leads the professional body for the 2,600 economists in the public sector.   Clare joined the Treasury in 2005 and has held a number of roles across economics, tax and spending policies including 3 years as the Budget Director and 4 years as Principle Private Secretary to the Chancellor.  She started her career at the Bank of England and has also worked in 10 Downing Street and the International Monetary Fund. 

Richard Hughes is a Research Associate at the Resolution Foundation, Senior Counsellor to the Haute Conseil des Finances Publiques (High Council on Public Finance) in France, and a Visiting Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford and Sciences Po in Paris. Richard started his career at HM Treasury in 2000 later joining the International Monetary Fund in 2008 where he headed the Fiscal Affairs Department’s Public Finance Division and worked on fiscal reform in a range of crisis-hit advanced, emerging, and developing countries. He returned to HM Treasury in 2016 as Director of Fiscal Policy where he oversaw the government’s fiscal strategy, debt management, and treasury operations and served as Acting Chief Economist. On June 5, Richard was nominated by the Chancellor to be the next Chair of the OBR which is subject to confirmation by Parliament.

The event will start at 17.00 via Zoom webinar.