§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list the special advisers in his Department and the issues on which they specialise; and to what level they have been security cleared; [62846]
(2) if he will list the members of the Council of the Economic Advisers and their principal employment. [62782]
§ Ms HewittThere are four Special Advisers in the Treasury: Ed Balls, Charles Whelan, Ed Miliband and Spencer Livermore. They advise Treasury Ministers on the full range of Treasury policy issues.
In addition, Chris Wales has been appointed full-time to the Council of Economic Advisers and Paul Gregg has been appointed on a part-time basis. Both appointments are on Special Adviser terms. Mr. Gregg's principal employment is with the London School of Economics.
Special Advisers are subject to the usual security clearance arrangements.
§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list(a) the (i) task forces, (ii) review panels and (iii) advisory groups his Department has, (b) the remit of each and (c) the members of each together with their principal employment and their level of remuneration. [62804]
§ Ms HewittI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mr. Chidgey) on 31 July 1998,Official Report, columns 665–66, which provided much of this information. Since then, the Treasury has appointed the following.
566W1. Public Services Productivity Panel
- (a) remit: to advise Ministers on ways of improving the productivity of government departments and public sector agencies
- (b) membership:Nine
- (c) composition: 3 Ministers, one other public sector, 5 private sector
- (d) remuneration: none
- (e) budget: out of pocket expenses only
2. Policy Action Team: Business
(a) remit: to report on:how successful business support organisations such as Business Links are in serving the most deprived communities;how it can be made easier for people in poor neighbourhoods to get access to support to start a business or become self-employed;how access to capital or small firms can be improved, especially for start-ups, including innovative approaches such as `microcredit;what can be learnt from new ways of encouraging self-employment, building on the New Deal and Employment Zones and how access to capital can be tied into regeneration strategies more generally.(b) membership: twenty two(c) composition: 14 civil servants, four other pubic sector, 4 private sector(d) remuneration: none(e) budget: out of pocket expenses only3. Policy Action Team: Financial Services
(a) remit: to report on:the scope for development of credit unions, building on planned legislative change;increasing the availability of insurance services to deprived communities;the role of banks, Post Offices and other organisations in providing access to and delivery of financial services in deprived neighbourhoods.(b) membership: eighteen(c) composition: 9 civil servants, 5 other public sector, 3 voluntary sector, 1 private sectorremuneration: nonebudget: out of pocket expenses only.