An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

156A CHRONICLE OF THE ENGINEERING COUNCILthe cultivation of mutual trust, understanding and working relationships between the EngCand the Institutions, especially the major ones. Fortuitously, seven out of the eight biggestInstitutions had recently appointed new Chief Executives, giving an opportunity to sweepaway some of the old prejudices and allowing a fresh recognition of the value of workingtogether. Although some progress was made, this was an aspiration not easily fulfilled.Dr Hawley said that, not to his great surprise, he found the Institutions were still fragmentedin their views with the so-called ‘Big Four’ (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical)trying to control the agenda through having joint meetings with their Presidents and ChiefExecutives. He felt that the views of the smaller Institutions were equally important,particularly as some were hunting at the edge of technology and indeed might become the bigInstitutions of the future. He, therefore, set out to hold a series of meetings with eightpresidents at a time to determine their views as to what should happen in the future. DrHawley found a wide spread of views and also (as had every previous Chairman) thatPresidents, who changed every year, were often unaware of activities of the EngC and in anycase they had not been briefed by their Chief Executives.September 1999At Dr Hawley’s first meeting with the DTI’s new Minister for Science, Lord Sainsbury ofTurville, there was a meeting of minds on the question of the future of the EngC. TheMinister proposed a major review of the work of the Council to ‘add greater value to theprofession’. He may not have been fully aware of some changes already taking place, but hewas certainly aware that the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ between the EngC and theGovernment [see Chapter 6] was not being pursued by the EngC with any vigour. Hechallenged Dr Hawley to identify how the EngC could add value to the ‘wider engineeringcommunity’. The official report states that Lord Sainsbury “invited Dr Hawley to work withDTI officials to review the contribution the Engineering Council should make to add value tothe engineering community by improving the effectiveness of existing activities in such areasas the promotion and standards of engineering, by building on existing synergies with otherorganisations”.Dr Hawley, already inclined towards a fundamental rethink of the role of the EngC, took upthe challenge. He determined on a path of radical change, as he had followed in otherorganisations into which he had been invited. The Minister and Dr Hawley decided that asmall working party would be established with accepted terms of reference. The key was forthe EngC to change from representing the profession to representing the community (asoriginally agreed in the neglected 1997 Memorandum of Understanding) a reminder forwhich Dr Hawley gave the credit to Lord Sainsbury.The composition of the Working Group was:Dr Robert Hawley (Chairman)Robert FosterTony KestenIain SturrockMalcolm ShirleyEngC (Chairman)DTIDTIEngC (Member of Senate)EngC (Director General)The Hawley Group, as it came to be known, met for the first time at the end of October 1999and held eight further meetings.© Engineering Council UK 2004