HM Treasury News Release
146/97                                  21 November 1997
______________________________________________________________
                                
     APPOINTMENT OF DEBT MANAGEMENT AGENCY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
                                
Mike Williams of the Treasury has been appointed as Chief
Executive of the debt management agency which is to be
established on 1 April 1998.

Notes for Editors

1.   When the Chancellor announced on 6 May that the Bank of
England would have operational independence for setting
interest rates, he also said the Bank's role as the
Government's agent for debt management, the sale of gilts,
oversight of the gilts market and cash management would be
transferred to the Treasury.  A consultation document issued
on 29 July proposed that this role should be carried out by an
Executive Agency of the Treasury which would be responsible
for:

          Implementing the Government's annual borrowing
          programme in the gilts market;

          Management and monitoring of the gilts market,
          particularly the market maker network and liaising
          with the Stock Exchange and the Financial Services
          Authority;

          Gilt market and product development;

          Marketing of gilts in the UK and abroad;

          Providing advice on the overall shape and direction
          of the UK gilt portfolio and on the annual gilt
          borrowing programme;

          Management of the Government's in-year cash
          position.

A response to the consultation exercise will be published
shortly which will give more details of  the timing of the
Agency taking over its various operational duties.



2.   The Agency will have between 20 and 30 staff and an
annual budget of around œ3-4 million and will be located in or
near the City. It will be staffed partly by secondees from the
Bank of England and people on loan from the Treasury and
partly by direct recruitment.  A small team has already been
set up as the nucleus of the new Agency and is working closely
with the Bank to ensure a smooth transition to the new
arrangements.

3.   The Agency's objectives will be set by Ministers.  Within
the remit, the Chief Executive will carry full responsibility
to deliver the objectives for in-year operational decisions on
gilt borrowing.  He will be the Agency Accounting Officer
responsible to Parliament for the Gilt Edged Official
Operations Account from which the annual borrowing programme
flows.

4.   Mike Williams is currently a Deputy Director in the
Treasury's Finance, Regulation and Industry Directorate.  He
has had extensive experience of Government debt and equity
sales under the privatisation programme and also has
experience of debt management and monetary policy issues more
generally.  His current responsibilities include industrial
and related policies aimed at improving UK economic
performance, including the operation of markets. 

5.   Mike Williams is 49.   He has over 20 years experience in
Government policy work in the Treasury and spent  a year on
secondment to Price Waterhouse.  Before joining the Treasury,
he worked as a professional economist.