{"primaryDescription":"<h2><strong>Torsten Bell to give evidence on&nbsp;the OBR as position of Chair&nbsp;remains&nbsp;vacant</strong></h2>\r\n<p>The&nbsp;Pensions Minister,&nbsp;Torsten Bell MP, will give evidence to the Treasury Committee&nbsp;about&nbsp;the Office for&nbsp;Budget&nbsp;Responsibility (OBR).</p>","secondaryDescription":"<p>The purpose of the session will be to understand how&nbsp;the Treasury&nbsp;views&nbsp;the role,&nbsp;performance&nbsp;and&nbsp;future&nbsp;of the&nbsp;OBR. The Minister&nbsp;may be asked about&nbsp;events&nbsp;leading up to&nbsp;the 2025&nbsp;Budget, including&nbsp;what can be done to avoid&nbsp;some of the&nbsp;speculation and uncertainty&nbsp;which&nbsp;surrounded&nbsp;it.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p>Richard Hughes stepped down as&nbsp;Chair of the OBR&nbsp;just over 6 months ago.&nbsp;MPs are likely to ask Mr Bell for an update on the recruitment of&nbsp;a new Chair&nbsp;given the delay.&nbsp;By statute, the Committee&nbsp;must provide its consent to&nbsp;any&nbsp;appointment.</p>\r\n<p>MPs&nbsp;may also&nbsp;ask the minister&nbsp;whether he believes any elements&nbsp;of the OBR&nbsp;and the&nbsp;fiscal framework&nbsp;need to&nbsp;change.</p>\r\n<p>Given his position as Pensions Minister, questions may also be asked about the Government&rsquo;s pensions reforms.</p>\r\n<p>This is the&nbsp;fourth&nbsp;session of the Treasury Committee&rsquo;s inquiry into the OBR. In&nbsp;previous&nbsp;hearings, MPs&nbsp;have&nbsp;heard from&nbsp;<a href=\"https://committees.parliament.uk/event/27277/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/\">members of the Budget Responsibility Committee, international commentators</a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https://committees.parliament.uk/event/26631/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/\">both of the watchdog&rsquo;s former chairs</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https://committees.parliament.uk/event/26821/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/\">expert voices</a>.</p>","parliamentTvUrl":null,"id":27528,"name":"The OBR: 15 years on","startDate":"2026-06-16T09:30:00","endDate":"2026-06-16T12:30:00","cancelledDate":null,"locationId":10,"location":"The Grimond Room, Portcullis House","eventType":{"id":6,"name":"Formal meeting (oral evidence session)","isVisit":false,"description":"Formal meetings may be held in private (for example to consider a draft report) or in public (for example to hear oral evidence), and require a minimum number of members to be present."},"eventSource":"CIS","committees":[{"contact":{"email":"treascom@parliament.uk","phone":null,"address":"Treasury Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA","contactDisclaimer":"We receive a significant number of emails each day. 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