The government has finally woken upto the importance of talking to the construction industry about its programme of investment in public services. Last week, chancellor Gordon Brown signalled in the Budget that he wanted to set up a forum where the government and the industry could meet to work out how best to meet key strategic goals - such as helping Labour win the next election. Brown's CIPER group - the name stands for Construction Industry Policy and European Regulation - will give the industry a chance to advise on the buildability, so to speak, of government policy. The likelihood of such a group being unveiled in the Budget was reported by Building on 12 March in response to rumours flying around the Treasury, but it otherwise comes something of a shock to most of the industry.
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