Does the CIPR need to be more representative?

CIPR presidential candidate, Rob Brown, has initiated an interesting discussion in his LinkedIn group about whether the CIPR needs to be more representative of people working in the industry since membership seems to be skewed towards London.

But a more fundamental question needs to be asked - has it ever been representative?  With fewer than 20% of practitioners choosing to be members (if the CIPR's figures estimating the size of the industry are to be believed), then can the CIPR ever claim to have been representative?

I think the real issue here is that too little is known about the nature and scope of the industry and without a clear idea of the scale of the industry in the UK, the CIPR can never hope to know what or who it is representing. Perhaps the presidential candidates need to be lobbying for a full scale survey of the PR industry in the UK?  And if the CIPR cares about this issue maybe funding could be found for a PhD studentship to conduct it?