Taking the Task Force to task - EDITORIAL COMMENT

Since the launch of the Task Force report, it is clear the Egan bandwagon has been thundering along on three wheels, perilously close to crashing.

Just how near it came is revealed by our disclosures this week (pages one and three). We warned of the dangers on the eve of the report last month, but unfortunately, ministers chose to ignore them.

It is now clear that clients believe the Task Force initiative was badly timed, politically motivated, and elitist.

They are right. The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been cavalier in his assumptions about the construction industry, and his initiatives to change it.

Ironically, a Task Force of elite clients would have been a huge force for good if it had been commissioned by the Construction Industry Board.

But instead of working with the industry, the Deputy Prime Minister chose to appoint an ad hoc, unrepresentative body to report to himself. The argument that his added clout made it justifiable no longer holds water in the light of the industry's revolt. His decision seems based less on wisdom than the desire for political profile and kudos.

Let there be no confusion: the Task Force's ideas are good and offer a real boost to reform. But anyone who has any experience of change management knows that having the right ideas is only half the battle.

Radical change is about winning agreement. Over the last nine months, the Task Force has failed dismally in this. It is crucial now that it pursues a new approach. It must become part of, not apart from, other efforts to change construction.

Only time will tell if John Prescott and Sir John Egan are willing to do this.