Treasury Committee
House of Commons select committee that scrutinises HM Treasury.
The Treasury Committee rejected calls to overhaul the Office for Budget Responsibility on 23 September 2026, describing its critics as "shooting the messenger" and asking ministers to consider a ten-year forecast.
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MPs want ministers to consider a ten-year OBR forecast. Would it change the Budget?
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Rejected overhauling the OBR and recommended a ten-year forecast
Is Britain Actually Broke?: Hillier's MPs seek 10-year OBR forecastBackground
The Treasury Committee is The House of Commons select committee that scrutinises HM Treasury. Dame Meg Hillier, Labour (Co-op) MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, chairs it.
Its inquiry "The OBR: 15 years on" examined how the Office for Budget Responsibility has worked since its creation. The committee's answer, published on 23 September 2026, was to defend the forecaster's independence rather than restructure it.
That stance gives the committee a defined position going into each fiscal event. Its recommendations, a ten-year forecast horizon and a regular Commons debate on the OBR's fiscal risks report, are now with ministers, and the OBR's next forecast is published with the Budget on 28 October 2026.
The committee backs the fiscal watchdog
The committee's report, "The Office for Budget Responsibility: Time for change?", came out on 23 September and closed its inquiry "The OBR: 15 years on". It turned down calls for an overhaul and characterised those attacking the forecaster as "shooting the messenger".
Two recommendations follow. Ministers should consider asking the OBR for a ten-year forecast alongside the five-year one, and Parliament should find time to debate the OBR's annual fiscal risks report. The committee's chair, Dame Meg Hillier, argued that forecasts carry more weight when spending runs on "razor-thin margins", and the OBR's chair, Jonathan Haskel, welcomed the report. Its conclusions reach ministers a month before the Budget of 28 October.