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20 May 1999
TREASURY DEPUTY DIRECTOR TO HEAD EUROPEAN ECONOMIC POLICY COMMITTEE
Norman Glass, Deputy Director in the Treasury Public Services Directorate, has been unanimously elected to a two year term as President of the EC Economic Policy Committee (EPC).
The main remit of the Committee, which reports directly to the Ministerial Council of EU Finance Ministers (ECOFIN), is to develop the economic reform agenda in Europe, particularly in the fields of labour markets, product service and capital markets, and to produce shared analyses of the policies necessary to meet longer term fiscal and macroeconomic challenges. It carries out an annual examination of each country's progress in reforming its economy.
Welcoming his election, Economic Secretary Patricia Hewitt said:
"I congratulate Norman Glass on his appointment. The development of a European strategy on structural reform, reforming labour markets to create jobs, and reforming product and capital markets to raise investment and build dynamic economies was a priority during the UK Presidency of the EU".
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Norman Glass is 53, married with two children. He joined the civil service in 1975 after working in the private sector with Shell and as an economic consultant and as a lecturer at Newcastle University.
2. Since joining the civil service, he has worked at the Departments of Social Security (DSS), Health (DoH) and Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR) before rejoining the Treasury in 1995.
3. He was appointed as Deputy Director in the Public Service Directorate in April 1995. In this post Norman Glass is the Senior Treasury micro-economist, with responsibilities including labour market and benefit reform and environmental issues, and chaired the interdepartmental committee that led to the setting up of the Government's Sure Start programme for pre-school children. He has been deputy chairman of the EPC for the past two years.