January 2003, pages 8 - 11 Outgoing chairman Clive Wadey reflects on a year of change, while his successor, John Bryson shares his thoughts on the opportunities and challenges in 2003

Looking back, 2002 has been a year of transition and change for the Chartered Institute, with fundamental changes having taken place at Chadwick Court and the CIEH influence in regional assemblies being strengthened with the appointment of CIEH directors in Northern Ireland and Wales.

The CIEH has increased its efforts to address the recruitment problems facing the profession with the launch of the new recruitment materials, including a website and training pack. There has also been a concerted drive to encourage local councils to provide more paid practical training placements for students. And as Clive Wadey steps down, the profession moves into a new era with the introduction of chartered status.

At CIEH headquarters, major change has occurred, not least with the recasting of the organisation's governance structure, which now places the CIEH in a strong position to promote environmental health to a wider audience. The creation of the policy development board (PDB) and its focused work programme offers the profession a raised platform from which to influence policy at a national level.

For someone who has worked in both the public and private sectors, Clive is well placed to reflect on the challenges and opportunities facing the profession. While his biggest frustration as chairman has been that "nothing happens as quickly as you would like", he says the CIEH is now poised to exploit the opportunities available, thanks to those governance changes completed under his chairmanship

Set in train and supported by his two predecessors, seeing through the long-awaited changes to governance was, he says, his main function last year. This has entailed acting in close partnership with the chief executive in "getting the structure up and running".

He now believes that the CIEH is firmly placed to make a significant step change in its capacity and effectiveness to promote environmental health at a national level. "We've got back to where we should have been in terms of having the right calibre of technical and professional staff to do the job that we should be doing," he says. Clive points out that, with the staffing in place, the CIEH has the resources and ability to influence policy agendas, evaluate the impact of legislative proposals and then go and bang on the door of government officials with the CIEH view.

While the chairman's role is largely that of a figurehead, Clive says that throughout his term of office he has tried to guide debate so that it focuses on the key challenges. "You can't express an opinion as chairman, necessarily," he says. "What you've got to do is to try and stimulate the debate. You can raise the questions, you can say 'hang on guys, is this right?,' and that is what I've tried to do."

Like his predecessor, Stephen Young, membership was a top priority when he was elected last January. During his year in office, Clive has encouraged everyone to play a greater role in engaging the local membership, particularly those elected to office in local branches and centres, and of course trustees. "They've got a key role in moving this Institute forward. And if they don't engage with their local membership, the local membership isn't going to increase," he warns.

The challenge of encouraging positive contributions from members has been one of his biggest interests during his year in office, particularly at a time when the door of central government is open to the profession with the emergence of the new public health agenda. "The world is our oyster," he continues. "If only we can enthuse the membership. We need them to be leading initiatives and banging the drum at a local level in the local authorities, demonstrating their worth to local communities and elected members. You need the commercial members to be raising the profile within their businesses and you need the consultants to stand up and be counted, to let people know that there are these people out there making a difference ."

At the same time, he welcomes the appointments of Gary McFarlane and Julie Barratt, enabling a stronger voice to be heard in Northern Ireland and Wales. The proposals for English regional government may present similar opportunities for the CIEH.

As the first technical officer to be appointed to the Environmental Health Officers Association (EHOA) in 1978, Clive has been particularly interested in being able to represent the profession in terms of its technical content, and points to the work of the PDB as vital. "It is by that, that you are seen to be experts, and," he notes, "that you are contributing to government." He adds that this is key to raising the profile of the profession. "It's part and parcel of getting the profession recognised by prospective students," he says.

On the subject of the profession's recruitment shortage, he thinks that the CIEH must continually evaluate its qualifications to make sure that they are right. He accepts that the need for CPD, APC and so on is unquestioned, but believes the CIEH must ensure that the schemes are reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate.

Towards the end of Clive's chairmanship, the CIEH launched the new recruitment training packs. Clive welcomes the move. His only concern is that the lack of training places for students could negate all the positive work. "If we tackle this, in terms of getting the recruitment packs and everything else in place, and getting young people interested in the profession, but if the training places aren't available, we've shot ourselves in the foot. We'll have all the people going into the university courses, but there will be nowhere for them to get the practical training." However, in the last few months, there have been indications that this issue is starting to be addressed, with a number of local authorities offering paid placements.

Commuting from Spain, Clive admits that the travel has made it difficult for him to be as involved as he would have liked. Although he retired from Council at the end of last year, Clive will remain a significant voice in the profession through his membership of the Commercial and Industrial Centre. He wishes John all the success in the role, adding, "hopefully, in John's term of office, we will continue to see real changes."

Like Clive, John Bryson has been a passionate campaigner for the profession for over 30 years. Having specialised in health and housing-related issues since 1979, he has played a leading role both at a local and national level in driving forward developments in the private housing sector. Among his many credits, John was the CIEH's representative on the steering group that looked at the renewal area research in 1997. More recently, he was also part of a small team which produced the first draft private sector renewal guidance for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in early 2002. A member of the Council since 1986, he was formerly chairman of the CIEH's housing committee and was deputy chairman of Council last year. Following a long career in local government, John now works as a private consultant, lending his expertise to housing and regeneration projects.

With such a wealth of experience and knowledge, John is well placed to consolidate Clive's work during 2003. Besides his professional abilities, what personal qualities does he think he can bring to the role of chairman? "Even after all this time, I've still got a basic enthusiasm both for the role of environmental health practitioners and for the role of the organisation," he says. He notes that a great deal has been achieved in recent years, but there are still important challenges to be faced. "Certainly in the last five to 10 years, we've probably made the greatest strides forward. But there's a long way to go and still a lot to do, and we've got to make sure we drive that along."

Stepping into Clive Wadey's shoes, John has made no "bold promises" about what will be achieved during his tenure as chairman. Nevertheless, there is one thing that he does hope to see improved and that is communications with members.

Significant changes have taken place, without which the profession would not prosper or indeed survive. However the membership may not have kept up with the need for the changes and the crucial role that they have in supporting them. The CIEH director of communications, Michael Dunmore, has already made positive improvements in this area.

John however, believes that he has taken on the chairman's role at a particularly important time in the profession's recent history. "I've been in the profession for 30 years and I don't remember a time when there were greater opportunities to push both environmental health and public health," he says. "Nationally and locally there are so many things happening and so many opportunities for people from our background to get involved with."

Having qualified as a public health inspector in the early 1970s, John is delighted to see "public health back on the agenda", particularly as public health is so intrinsically linked with his core interest, housing. "Some of the stuff coming through now from the various government bodies, including the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, right through to the regeneration unit is core stuff to a lot of environmental health practitioners," he says. "It's about decent housing and it's about decent public health". From members' point of view, he says that there are some great opportunities to make a difference, if people want to get involved in that type of work.

2003 promises to be a challenging year for the profession, but also one of great opportunity. The involvement of members in pushing forward the environmental health and public health agendas over the next year, will be key to making a difference to peoples' lives.