Finance and Public Administration Committee
Under the terms of the Scottish Fiscal Commission Act 20161 ("the Act"), the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) became a statutory body as a Non-Ministerial Department on 1 April 2017. The Act states that the SFC is to normally consist of a Chair and at least two but no more than four other members.
There are currently three Commissioners: Dame Susan Rice DBE (Chair), Professor Francis Breedon and Professor David Ulph CBE FRSE.
Section 15(3) of the Act states that the—
“Scottish Ministers may appoint a person as a member only if the Scottish Parliament has approved the appointment.”
In a letter to the Committee of 19 April 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy set out her nominations for the appointment of a new Chair and Commissioner to the SFC. Her letter, along with the person specification for the roles of Chair and Commissioner and CVs for each nominee, is available in the Committee meeting papers for 3 May 20221.
The nominee for the role of Chair of the SFC is Professor Graeme Roy.
Professor Roy is currently the Dean (External Engagement) of the College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, where he has strategic responsibility for impact, communications, knowledge exchange, applied research and internationalisation in College of Social Sciences. He was previously Head of Department (Economics) and Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI), University of Strathclyde, where he was responsible for all the Department of Economics activities, including teaching and research.
This vacancy has arisen as the tenure of Dame Susan Rice as Chair is coming to an end on 30 June 2022.
The nominee for the role of Commissioner of the SFC is Dr Domenico Lombardi.
Dr Lombardi is an Economist with global experience in the management and governance of economic policy institutes and multilateral organisations. He will bring to the Commission his European experience, which will be lost when Professor Alasdair Smith retires. Domenico has board experience across different sectors including private and organisational and he recently authored the report on governance reform for the IMF. He is currently a strategic and macroeconomic advisor to government agencies and international institutions as well as a Senior Consultant for the International Monetary Fund. He was previously the Chief Executive Officer for the Banca di San Marino.
If appointed, Dr Lombardi will replace Professor Smith, whose tenure as Commissioner ended on 1 April 2022.
In addition, Professor Francis Breedon and Professor David Ulph have been nominated for reappointment as Commissioners of the Commission for a further three years from 8 October 2022. The letter from the Cabinet Secretary indicates that the current Chair, Dame Susan Rice, has recommended their reappointment for this three-year period and that they have both agreed to be nominated.
Professor Breedon and Professor Ulph were first appointed as Commissioners on 8 October 2018 for a four-year term. Their appointment followed an evidence session with the Session 5 Finance and Constitution Committee on 3 October 2018 (the nominees’ redacted application forms and CVs are included in the Committee meeting papers2). Professor Breedon and Professor Ulph’s initial appointments were confirmed by Parliament during its meeting on 4 October 20183.
In advance of the Parliament being invited to approve the appointments and reappointments, the Committee questioned Professor Roy and Dr Lombardi against the advertised job specification for the posts of Chair and Commissioner at its meeting on 3 May 2022. The job specification is also included in the Committee meeting papers. The official report of the meeting is available on the Scottish Parliament website4.
Following the evidence session, the Committee agreed to recommend to the Parliament that it approve the Cabinet Secretary's nominations for appointment to the SFC.
The Committee recommends that the Parliament approves the appointment of Professor Graeme Roy as Chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and that of Dr Domenico Lombardi as Commissioner. The Committee further recommends the reappointment of Professor Francis Breedon and Professor David Ulph as Commissioners of the SFC.