Concerns brought to seat of Government

And discuss how they could play their part in the succession planning agenda by encouraging more young entrants to join the profession and the Institute at every available opportunity. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie reports.

The IHEEM Reception – the first to be staged by the Institute at the House of Commons – was held in a dining room within the Lower House, and brought together not only representatives from today’s healthcare estates and built environment communities, but also those who had served the Institute in senior roles in years gone by, including Past-Presidents Bill Smith, Peter Wearmouth, and Bill Murray. The setting – the House of Commons Dining Room ‘B’ – was both sufficiently intimate to enable the assembled guests to discuss, in confidence, some of the broad and more particular challenges facing the healthcare engineering and estates management and associated professions today, but equally, lent sufficient ‘gravitas’ to give the proceedings a sense of purpose and authority. While the dining room’s compact size meant guests were able to easily hear the various speeches, the occasional sounding of the famous ‘division bell’, and the intermittent electronic warning sounds marking the start or end of a parliamentary debate, served as a reminder of the proximity of the important business being ‘transacted’ by both Houses. Parliamentary and lobbying events at the Houses of Parliament require the support of MPs or members of the House of Lords, and, the role of Parliamentary Host was played by Lord Risby (Richard Spring) of Haverhill, a Conservative Peer whose earlier parliamentary career included spells as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Northern Ireland Secretary (from 1994- 1995); Tim Eggar, Minister of State for Trade and Industry (from 1995-1996); and Nicholas Soames and James Arbuthnot as Ministers of State for Defence (between 1996 and 1997). A contemporary of IHEEM CEO, Julian Amey, at Magdalene College, Cambridge between 1968 and 1972, Lord Risby also served as Opposition Spokesperson for Culture, Media, and Sport (from November 1997-2000), and for Foreign Affairs (from 2000-2004). He was Shadow Treasury Minister from 2004-2005.

 Interest in overseas trade