(c) Committee-based decision-making: Decisions on monetary, macro-prudential and microprudential policy rest with three Committees, rather than any one individual. 43 The Committees themselves vary in size from 9 to 11 people. They comprise a mix of Bank of England “internals” and “external” experts. Decisions are made either by majority voting (MPC), consensus (PRA) or by consensus with a provision for majority voting (FPC). (d) Transparency and accountability: The deliberations and decisions of each Committee are subject to public scrutiny. The minutes of MPC and FPC policy meetings are published. All three Committees produce periodic reports, tabled in Parliament, on their actions and analysis. 44 And members of each Committee appear regularly before Parliamentary Committees. There is individual accountability, as well as collective responsibility, for policy. These institutional features are no historical accident. Each serves as a constraint on the policy discretion exercised either by the Bank as agent or by its principal Parliament. The 3M  39  For more on the FPC, see Tucker, Hall and Pattani (2013) and Murphy and Senior (2013). 40  Bailey, Breeden and Stevens (2012). 41  Debelle and Fischer (1994). 42  For example, for the MPC the remit specifies that the primary objective is to maintain price stability and, subject to that, the secondary objective is to support the economic policy of Her Majesty’s Government, including its objectives for growth and employment. 43  Although a single individual – the Governor - chairs all three committees.

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