This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6751761.stm
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Brown 'opens up' rate-setter jobs | |
| (39 minutes later) | |
| Gordon Brown has announced changes to the way members of the interest-rate setting Bank of England monetary policy committee are appointed. | Gordon Brown has announced changes to the way members of the interest-rate setting Bank of England monetary policy committee are appointed. |
| External positions will be advertised with the criteria and timetable for replacing existing members published for the first time. | |
| Mr Brown says he wants to make the process more "open and accountable". | Mr Brown says he wants to make the process more "open and accountable". |
| The committees has nine members - five Bank of England staff and four external members appointed by the chancellor. | |
| The new system will be used for the first time in May 2008, when MPC member Andrew Sentance's three year term expires. | |
| The changes follow criticism from the governor of the Bank of England and MPC chairman, Mervyn King, who has said the process - overseen by the Treasury - was "not clear". | |
| 'Openness' | |
| They also mean Mr Brown's successor as chancellor will be bound by a published set of criteria for making appointments to the MPC. | |
| In what will almost certainly be his final appearance before the Commons Treasury Committee, Mr Brown said he wanted to "enhance the openness" of the MPC. | |
| Vacancies will be advertised and the government will publish "additional criteria on the qualities and skills set it is seeking from successful candidates". | |
| This would "ensure the committee retains an appropriate mix of skills and backgrounds", added Mr Brown. | |
| Asked why it had taken 10 years to make the MPC appointment process less "secretive", Mr Brown said he had wanted to give the system time to "bed in". | |
| He told MPs: "We are doing what no other major central bank does, having drawn on experience, but still aware that any appointment is a market sensitive issue." | |
| Mr Brown has been criticised in the past for not moving quicker to replace MPC member Richard Lambert, who stood down from the committee in March. | |
| The appointment of academic David Blanchflower has also been questioned. | |
| Mr Brown, who will take over as prime minister on 27 June, handed control of interest rates to the MPC in 1997, ending a long tradition where the chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England jointly determined the UK's basic interest rate. |