GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON THE INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES

That this House notes that key Government departments have spent at least 2,592,840 on the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), over the last 10 years; further notes that the majority of this has come from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education; further notes that one of the major customers of the IFS is the BBC; accepts that the IFS may stimulate a healthy debate for the UK's democracy about economic affairs and public spending; is concerned however that the Bank of England and HM Treasury and other Government departments may have economists who could do this work in-house; is further concerned that such a high public subsidy may create an unlevel playing field for other economic think tanks, who do not have access to taxpayers' money, and may take a different point of view; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that research work is openly and transparently tendered for in the future.