The appointment process
2. The vacancy filled by Spencer Dale was created
by the appointment of Charlie Bean, the Bank's previous Chief
Economist, as Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy, an appointment
which was announced earlier on the same day as the announcement
of Spencer Dale's appointment. The selection of the Chief Economist
is a decision for the Governor of the Bank, after consultation
with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.[2]
On 19 June 2008, the day both appointments were announced, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer reported in a letter to the Chairman
of this Committee that the Governor had indicated to him that
in future the Bank would "advertise externally the two Bank
Executive Director posts which carry MPC membership".[3]
This change will ensure that all future appointments to the MPC
will be the subject of external advertisement, following the Government's
decision in 2007 to make external appointments to the MPC subject
to such advertisement and the decision also announced on 19 June
this year that the posts of the Governor and of the Deputy Governors
will be subject to such advertisement.[4]
We have previously welcomed the Government's decision to advertise
for future vacancies for external members of the MPC, and the
Government's announcement about the posts of the Governor and
of the Deputy Governor was a positive response to one of our recommendations.[5]
We welcome
the decision of the Governor of the Bank of England to make future
appointments to the posts of Executive Directors of the Bank which
carry membership of the Monetary Policy Committee subject to
external advertisement, while noting that this procedure was not
followed in the case of the appointment of Spencer Dale. Spencer
Dale himself welcomed the move to external advertisement in his
oral evidence to us, and this process may produce a better balance
between internal and external candidates.
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