While the 1994 Latham Report had stimulated various industry initiatives, government action was deemed necessary to get the industry to make the necessary changes. In October 1997, the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott commissioned a Construction Task Force, chaired by Sir John Egan, a former chief executive of Jaguar Cars, to look at the construction industry from the clients' perspective. The Task Force was to advise on opportunities to improve the efficiency and quality of the UK construction industry's service and products, to reinforce the impetus for change, and to make the industry more responsive to the needs of its customers.