Treasury Committee requests written evidence on UK fiscal and monetary policy since 2019

• Inquiry: Parliament 2019 - 2024: Fiscal and monetary lessons for future Parliaments
• Treasury Committee

Since 2019, the United Kingdom has encountered multiple major economic shocks. As a result, the Government and other public bodies have implemented fiscal policy interventions on an unprecedented scale, many of which have had or are having a significant impact on the UK economy and the public finances. 

The Committee aims to gather detailed information on the decisions made by public institutions during the current Parliament in order to understand the effectiveness of those interventions in mitigating negative economic consequences for the UK. This is intended as a document for use by future parliaments. 

The new inquiry, entitled UK Parliament 2019 - 2024: Fiscal and monetary lessons for future Parliaments, will initially accept written evidence only. The deadline for submissions is midnight on Friday 7 June. 

Submissions can be made via the Treasury Committee website evidence portal. 

Evidence submitted to the Committee should seek to answer one or more of the following questions:  

• How much additional public spending occurred as a result of the pandemic?  How effective and targeted was the Government’s fiscal response to the Covid pandemic? 
• How much additional public spending occurred as a result of the energy crisis?  How effective and targeted was the Government’s fiscal response to the energy crisis?  
• In each of these crises, public spending was implemented in a hurry.  Given the urgency, to what extent could fraud and error have been reduced in those responses?  
• What may be and have been the long-term consequences (positive and negative) of the UK’s covid support schemes? 
• What may be and have been the long-term consequences (positive and negative) of the UKs energy crisis support schemes? 
• How did the speed, design, effectiveness and generosity of the UK’s policies compare to those of other OECD countries? 
• If a pandemic were to occur again that required a national lockdown, what changes would you propose to the public spending response? 
• If energy prices increased again at the same rate as experienced during 2022, what changes would you propose to the public spending response? 
• Were the Bank of England’s monetary policy responses to the economic shocks during the Parliament effective, well targeted, and what should have been done differently?

Further information

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