The Bank of England's Court of Directors

The Treasury will today begin advertising for candidates for appointment to the Bank of England’s court of directors. The Chancellor will be looking to recommend the appointments of new non-executive directors to succeed those who are standing down next year following the expiry of their term of office on 31 May 2005. Adverts will also appear in national newspapers and on the Cabinet Office Public Appointments Unit’s website in the week beginning Monday 13 December.

The Chancellor would like to thank the outgoing non-executive directors for the contribution they have made to the court and wish them all the best for the future.

Notes to editors

1. The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. It is governed by a board of directors known as the court of directors, which oversees the operations of the Bank, except its monetary policy decision-making, which is the responsibility of the separately appointed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

2. The Bank of England Act 1998 gives the non-executive directors an explicit role in overseeing and reporting on the Bank's performance. The Act created a sub-committee of directors (NedCo) with statutory responsibilities for reviewing the Bank's performance in relation to its objectives and strategy, and monitoring the extent to which the Bank's financial management objectives are met. NedCo is also responsible for reviewing the procedures of the MPC. All of the non-executive directors are members of this committee, and one of their number, is appointed by the Chancellor to chair it. The current chair is Sir David Cooksey.

3. The appointments of non-executive directors will be made in accordance with the guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

4. All non-executive directors to the court of the Bank of England are appointed in a personal capacity and do not serve as representatives of particular interests or associations.

5. There are sixteen non-executive directors each serving three-year terms of appointment. The membership of the court at present is: Mervyn King, Sir Andrew Large, Rachel Lomax, Bridget Blow, Sir David Cooksey, Callum McCarthy, Mary Francis, Sir Graham Hall, Brendan Barber, Sir Brian Moffat, Sir William Morris, Peter Jay, Dr David Potter, Heather Rabbatts, Kathleen O’Donovan, Laurel Powers-Freeling, Sir John Parker, Amelia Fawcett and Sir Andrew Likierman. Further details can be found at www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/people/court.htm

6. The court of directors has a key role in reviewing the procedures of the Monetary Policy Committee and managing the affairs of the Bank of England, other than the formulation of monetary policy. The Treasury is looking for high quality individuals who will be able to take account of the full range of private, public and voluntary sector views and interests. The court should be representative of the whole of the United Kingdom.

7. These appointments will be made by Her Majesty the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

8. Media enquiries should be addressed to Will Straw in the Treasury press office on 020 7270 4420.

9. Non-media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury Correspondence and Enquiry Unit on 020 7270 4558 or by e-mail to public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk

10.This press release and other Treasury publications and information area available on the Treasury website at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk. If you would like Treasury press releases to be sent to you automatically by e-mail you can subscribe to this service from the press release site on the website.