Kate Barker
| Kate Barker CBE | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Monetary Policy Committee | |
| In office June 2001 – May 2010 | |
| Governor | Sir Edward George (2001-2003), Mervyn King (2003-present) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1957 |
| Alma mater | St Hilda's College, Oxford |
| Profession | Economist |
Kate Barker CBE (born 1957) is a British economist.
Barker grew up in Stoke-on-Trent. She received a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford, in 1979 and worked for a large pension fund in London. She was a Research Officer at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (1981–1985) and was then the Chief European Economist at the Ford Motor Company in Brentwood (1985–1994). From 1994 to 2001 she was Chief Economic Adviser at the CBI. She was also a member of the HM Treasury's Panel of Independent Economic Advisers 1996-97; and a non-executive Director of the Yorkshire Building Society (1999-April 2001).
Kate Barker was appointed as an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England with effect from 1 June 2001. The MPC is responsible for setting interest rates to meet the Government's inflation target. She is the first external MPC member to have been appointed for three terms, the latest of which ended on 31 May 2010. She was not eligible for a fourth term. She was appointed as one of two non-executive members of the UK government's Office for Budget Responsibility in June 2011.
Barker was appointed by the Government in April 2003 to conduct an independent Review of UK Housing Supply; leading to a final report in March 2004. The Government’s full response to this review was published in December 2005. In October 2005 she was appointed a Board Member of the Housing Corporation, and from 2008 to 2011 of one of its successor bodies, the Homes and Communities Agency. In December 2005, she was asked to conduct an independent Review of Land Use Planning, and she reported on 5 December 2006. Barker was appointed as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Services to Social Housing in 2006. She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, Chair of the Northern Ireland Economic Advisory Group, and a trustee of the Essex Community Foundation.
Barker chairs the advisory board for the Spatial Economics Research Centre at the London School of Economics), is a member of the advisory board for the Centre for Economic Policy at the LSE, and became Chair of the advisory board for the Centre for Business Research at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, in October 2012. She is a senior visiting fellow in the Department of Land Economy at Cambridge. She was also a Governor at Anglia Ruskin University from 2000 to 2010, and Chair of Governors 2007-2010; in October 2011, the university awarded her an honorary doctorate.
She is a non-executive director on the boards of Taylor Wimpey, Electra Private Equity plc, and the Yorkshire Building Society. She is a senior adviser to Credit Suisse.[citation needed]See Credit Suisse press release dated 1 October 2010. Previously an independent member of the Football Regulatory Authority of the Football Association, she is a Stoke City F.C. fan.[1]
Barker is currently chairing the Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care in England for the King's Fund, and is leading a quality review for the Office of National Statistics. She took over as Chair of the Society of Business Economists in 2013.
References
- ↑ <att Scotte (25 January 2011). "Women remain rarities in the FA council chamber". Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2012.