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Professor Lastra appointed Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords' Economics Affairs Committee

On 28 March, The Economics Affairs Committee of the House of Lords agreed to appoint Professor Rosa Lastra as specialist adviser to assist the committee in its inquiry into the Bank of England: how is independence working?

Published:
Bank of England at night

Professor Lastra is the Sir John Lubbock Chair in Banking Law and Chair of the Institute of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London.

2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the Bank of England Act 1998, which gave the Bank of England its independence and reformed the structure, responsibilities and functions of the Bank. The inquiry will focus on the Bank’s role and remit; whether the governance structures of the Bank are appropriate; and how the Bank is being held accountable for its actions. The Committee seeks oral and written evidence on the following questions.

Role and remit

  • Is the Bank of England’s statutory framework still defined appropriately? If not, how should it be defined?
  • What should be the role of secondary objectives in the remit of the Bank?
  • Have revisions to the Bank’s role, statutory objectives and remits since it was made independent affected the Bank’s performance and operations; if so, how?
  • How has the relationship between the Bank and the Treasury, as provided in the Bank of England Act 1998, worked in practice; and is that relationship still appropriate?
  • Is the Bank of England’s mission to maintain monetary and financial stability affected by its Prudential Regulation Authority responsibilities; if so, how?

Governance and culture

  • Do the Bank’s structures provide for a broad range of views in carrying out its functions?
  • Is the role of the Court of Directors of the Bank adequately defined and understood? Does the Court function appropriately; if not, how should it change?
  • Are the appointments processes to the Bank’s three policy committees, and the Court of Directors of the Bank, providing appropriate degrees of expertise, challenge and range of thought?

Accountability

  • Has the right balance been struck between accountability and independence?
  • Is there effective scrutiny and accountability with regards to the delivery of the objectives that the Bank of England is set; and are the Bank’s communications sufficiently clear and complete to ensure effective scrutiny?

This is a public call for written evidence to be submitted to the Committee. The deadline for submissions is midday on 27 April 2023. Persons who submit written evidence, and others, may be invited to give oral evidence. Oral evidence is usually given in public at Westminster and broadcast online; transcripts are produced and published online. Persons invited to give oral evidence will be notified separately of the procedure to be followed and the topics likely to be discussed.

 

 

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