A centrepiece of Gordon Brown’s Pre-Budget Report on Wednesday will be his response to five independent reviews, from climate change to land-use planning and transport.

Mr Brown has become an habitual commissioner of reviews. As Chancellor since 1997, he has set up 39 reviews conducted by people outside Whitehall, virtually all by leading businessmen. Some have had a significant impact on government policy and levels of taxation, but others have quickly disappeared.

The list of the names is rather like a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song: Stern, Eddington, Lyons, Leitch, Myners, Barker, Wanless, Lambert, Higgs, Sandler, Taylor and so on. Some (Wanless, Lyons, Barker and Myners) have even conducted two reviews. A majority of those involved already have knighthoods for their efforts, or have been rewarded with them soon after.

Mr Brown has used these reviews partly as a means of broadening policy advice outside Whitehall but, in particular, to provide the authority and legitimacy of a leading outsider for measures that he would like to introduce. The classic example was the review conducted in 2001-02 by Sir Derek Wanless into long-term health trends and consequent funding needs. The Wanless report was used by the Chancellor as the public justification for retaining a primarily taxpayer-funded service and for the series of big rises in spending on the NHS since then, and the associated large increase in employer and employee national insurance contributions, which he announced in his April 2002 Budget.

Similarly, last month’s report by Sir Nicholas Stern on climate change is being used by Mr Brown and other ministers to justify action on economic, as well as on environmental, grounds. He will set out in his statement on Wednesday his response to this, including a likely rise in the airport tax, and to Sir Rod Eddington’s report on long-term transport needs. He is also expected to discuss the latest instalment of Kate Barker’s review of land-use planning and the report by Sir David Varney, the former chairman of Revenue & Customs, into its links with big business.

Other influential reviews since 1997 include Hampton on regulatory inspections and enforcement, which has led to a greater emphasis on a risk-based approach and legislation. A report very early in the life of the Government into work incentives by Martin Taylor, the former chief executive of Barclays Bank, led to changes to national insurance contributions and the introduction of the working families tax credit.

The least influential reviews have been those involving the regulation of sectors outside government, such as Cruickshank on banking services, Myners on institutional investment, Miles on mortgages and Sandler on enouraging low-cost retail savings. In each case some consequent measures have been introduced but there has been resistance in the affected sectors and the momentum for change has disappeared.

Only half of the 20 main reviews where the Government has responded can be given a rating of 6 out ot 10 or more and these are all where the Chancellor was able to cite the support of a prominent businessman for policies that he wanted to pursue anyway.

Read Peter Ridell on how Gordon Brown compares to other chancellors

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