HOT 50: MARTIN TEMPLE

Design owes Martin Temple a great deal.His reviewof the Design Council, commissioned by the Government last summer,undoubtedly contributed to the council’s survival of last October’s Comprehensive Spending Review,which sawa lot of other quangos axed ormerged.

The Design Councilmay have lost its status as a non-departmental Government body,but it retains its charitable status and £4ma year of Government funds.

It has seen its funding slashed by a third and staff numbers are expected to be halved, but it remains the Government advisor on design,ensuring design is integral toministerial and Civil Service thinking.

The councils future nowseems assured – amergerwith the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environmentwas being confirmed as the Hot 50went to press.Temple’s thorough reviewhas undoubtedly provided a framework for it to cement this relationship.

During the course of his research,Temple,who is chairman of manufacturer 600 Group and a councilmember of the Design Council, raised important questions about the plethora ofmembership bodies purporting to represent design.This has already provided awelcome catalyst for debate about change in this area.