South East England Councils Bank of England Forum

Topical meetings
Non-members welcome
Tuesday, 23 March, 2021
14:00
-15:00
Microsoft Teams
South East England Councils Bank of England Forum

Details

The second discussion forum with the Bank of England (BoE) will be between the Agent for central Southern England and representatives of councils from across the South East.  

The BoE Agent 

The Bank has a network of 12 Agencies covering the UK that engage with figures from local

business and community organisations to glean information on economic activity.  

Agents’ collective soundings form an intelligence report that goes to the Monetary Policy Committee and the Office of the Governor. 

 Agent for Central Southern England is Andrew Holder.

BoE Agent since December 2015, Andrew joined the Agency as Deputy Agent in August 2008.  He joined the Bank in 2001, working in Head Office roles that included writing parts of the Bank's quarterly Inflation Report, working with Chris Allsopp on his review of statistics for economic policymaking, and as Research Adviser to Andrew Sentance on the Monetary Policy Committee.

Andrew studied Economics at King's College, Cambridge, and London School of Economics. He started his career as an economist working in HM Treasury, where at various times he worked on monetary, fiscal, and environmental policies.  Andrew lives with his family near Winchester, where he tries to eke out enough spare time to play viola in the Winchester Symphony Orchestra.

The Forum 

As with the inaugural forum last September, Andrew agreed it would be ideal to continue a dialogue with a group of Councillors to probe local economic conditions.

This would be helpful to the BoE on building a picture of the state of the South East economy. 

It is intended to have the Forum twice a year.    

The Forum will serve as a platform that can support the pursuit of SEEC main objectives: 

  • To provide and act as a unified democratic voice on South East interests
  • To monitor and highlight the economic pulse of the South East 
  • To promote and maintain the South East’s position as a leading global economy 
  • To seek and secure adequate funding for the South East region

The format will be: 

Time

Activity

2pm

Welcome

SEEC Director Sean McKee outlines the purpose of the Forum 

2.05pm

Overview 

BoE Agent Andrew Holder provides update on BoE economic outlook   

2.15pm

Discussion 

SEEC Chair Cllr Roy Perry facilitates participant dialogue

2.55pm

Conclusion

Cllr Perry draws the Forum towards a close

Areas for reflection 

The discussion will be wide-ranging, though Andrew Holder has asked if participants could also give some thought to matters in their own areas.  

It would be interesting to hear: 

  • How local economies are faring over recent months?
  • If/when government support schemes taper off, how large might risks of widespread local business failures or local unemployment be? 
  • Which parts of local economies may face greater risks or pressures?
  • How have councils changed plans for resourcing or their investment strategy because of the pandemic?

It may be useful to reflect on indicators of change in local areas such as closure of premises in retail or commercial fields, reduced revenues from charges, fees, and levies etc. 

Proceedings 

SEEC looks forward to a good discussion. 

To foster a good exchange of views, the forum will be conducted to a degree under the Chatham House Rule – SEEC will not be maintaining a note of what specific points were raised by a specific individual (or identifying a particular authority).  

The BoE Agent himself may choose to follow-up on points raised by you afterwards.