Dear Sir or Madam,
What consultations has the British Fashion Council had with

-Equity Shoes, Leicester

-Sanders & Sanders, Rushden

over an easily researched period - say five years?

What representations has the British Fashion Council received from
the MPs for Leicester or Rushden for consultation with UK shoe
manufacturers?

Defining terms:

My idea of an "easily researched period" is the amount of time
letters are kept on file in London or email is archived, or the
off-the-cuff memory of current staff if this is longer.

By "consultation", I mean letters or phone calls from BFC to ask
how these now-closed footwear factories could have fitted the
criteria for promotion and subsidy, for example by suggesting
fashionable designer-customers of theirs for show at London Fashion
Week.

By MP for Leicester I mean Patricia Hewett, MP for Leicester West
since 1997, who has also been minister of trade for a time.

By MP for Rushden I mean Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough since
May 2005, and Paul Stinchcombe, barrister and speech-writer, who
was MP there from 1997-2005.

It would be polite to mention other MPs who have lobbied, such as
the other MPs for Leicester, but as the Equity factory is in
Leicester West I've chosen that constituency to single-out.

The reason I think this is important is that I believe that the
British Fashion Council or successor should consult UK shoe
factories about export promotion policy. I think UK shoe factories
are vital to the high-end designers that are currently promoted;
one cannot exist without the other. I understand that the British
Fashion Council with a staff of 30 and other bodies that it funds
now promotes leather shoes made in autocratic countries for British
designers - even in their "ethical" category. I think that press
coverage of these shoes obscures the ethical advantages of buying
shoes that are not from autocratic states, particularly those made
by UK taxpayers in the UK.

Yours faithfully,

John Robertson

Dear Mr Robertson

Thank you for your email below.

Your enquiry appears to be directed to the British Fashion Council which
is not part of UK Trade & Investment. I would suggest you send your
enquiry to them at [email address].

Yours sincerely

Duncan Packer

Duncan Packer
UK Trade & Investment
66-74 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6SW

19 October 2009

T: +44 (0)207 215 8505

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