Dame Kate Barker has stepped down as a National Infrastructure Commissioner following her appointment as Chair-elect of the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

During her time at the Commission, Dame Kate led policy development on water supply, flooding and on the relationship between housing development and infrastructure. She was one of four Commissioners appointed in April 2017.

Dame Kate is a business economist, who served as a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) from 2001 to May 2010. During this period, she led two major policy reviews for government, on UK housing supply and on land-use planning. Before joining the MPC, she was Chief Economic Adviser for the CBI.

Dame Kate’s new role, chairing the UK’s largest private pension scheme, has led her to review her wider portfolio of non-executive commitments.

Sir John Armitt, Chair of the Commission, said: “Kate has served the Commission diligently and we have greatly valued her insight and breadth of knowledge across the Commission’s remit of economic infrastructure. We will be sorry to lose Kate’s expertise, and wish her all the best in her important new role.”

The process for appointing a Commissioner to succeed Dame Kate will begin in due course.