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Information not held by Department for International Development to John Robertson on 29 October 2009.
All information sent by Department for International Development to John Robertson on 4 December 2009.
Refused by Department for International Development to Francis Bacon on 28 October 2009.
Ethical Fashion Forum funding application and criteria
John Robertson made this Freedom of Information request to Department for International Development
The request was successful.
John Robertson
4 November 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please provide copies of all recent applications for Development
Awareness Mini Grant by Ethical Fashion Forum that have been
approved or are likely to be. Please provide copies of feedback and
monitoring mechanisms, if any.
Yours
John Robertson
As this email is public, I should explain that I don't mean to
discourage training in fair trade imports of shoes & clothes. I do
question how trainers are equipped to advise on other ethical
suppliers of clothes based in the UK and Europe; it is a harder job
to advise on T shirts than Tea, on a product made all over the
world than a product only grown on third world farms.
I am concerned that there are some factories making clothes in
Tower Hamlets which suffer from cheap imported competition,
increasing poverty, reducing attractive work for the younger
generation, increasing disparities in the labour market. Business
is so bad that richer people are setting up wine bars and quangos
in the empty factories. One of your other grants to the area notes
"Disadvantaged Young People in Tower Hamlets, London: The direct
beneficiaries will be 2,000 disadvantaged youths, 18-25 years old,
who are not in education, employment or training" partly to help
"their friends and relatives... Project work in the target
community has identified that young people are often disconnected
from their communities and have a lack of awareness of the broader
global context and situation of others in the world".
It strikes me that taxpayer-funded training to the fashion trade
about how to import should only be about fair trade fashion or
products made in European working conditions, and it should be
balanced by training about how to buy fashion made in the UK and
Europe, potentially by some of the 2,000 unemployed people who are
the subject of one of your other grants and disconnected from their
communities.
I am concerned that another project chaired, badged, and advertised
by Ethical Fashion Forum called "making it ethically in China",
which is not about fair trade, received complaints from me and
questions or concern from two main parties on the London Assembly.
Despite this, Ethical Fashion staged a repeat performance at their
own offices in Tower Hamlets, yards away from clothing factories. I
am also concerned that the Forum's advice to British Fashion
Council about what "Ethical" means does not sufficiently favour UK
or European producers or even fair trade ones.
foi
Department for International Development
4 November 2009
Dear Mr Robertson
Thank you for your request for information which we received today.
We're handling it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and will respond to you as soon as possible and within 20 working days.
In the meantime, if you have any queries, please contact me quoting
reference F2009-273.
Yours sincerely
Helen Kennedy
DFID Openness Unit
show quoted sections
John McGinn
Department for International Development
2 December 2009
Dear Mr Robertson
Unfortunately DFID are not yet in a position to respond to your Freedom of
Information request of 14 November. The attached letter gives specific
details of our reason for extending the deadline for response.
regards
John McGinn
Openness Unit
DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK
Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more at
http://www.dfid.gov.uk.
The road to Copenhagen: the UK Government's ambition for a global deal on
climate change. Find out more at http://www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk and
about DFID's work at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/climate.
show quoted sections
John Robertson
3 December 2009
Dear John McGinn,
Ethical Fashion Forum have contacted me directly with all the
information, to save costs to you. They tell me that they want to
be transparent, open, and are happy to answer questions directly.
Thanks for passing the request to them.
John Robertson
Helen Kennedy
Department for International Development
10 December 2009
F2009 273 Response P1.doc
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F2009 273 Annex 1.pdf
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<<F2009-273 Response _P1.doc>> D <<F2009-273 Annex 1.pdf>> ear Mr
Robertson
Please see the attached response to your FOI request reference
F2009-273.
Yours sincerely
Helen Kennedy
DFID Openness Unit
DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more at http://www.dfid.gov.uk.
The road to Copenhagen: the UK Government's ambition for a global deal on climate change. Find out more at http://www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk and about DFID's work at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/climate.
show quoted sections
candyedith left an annotation (31 December 2009)
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Tamsin Lejeune left an annotation (5 November 2009)
Please see below for the description of the project that has received a minigrant through DFID's Development Awareness Fund.
The Ethical Fashion Forum brings together experts and our aim is to offer a balanced view. Our goal is not to promote production in one place over another, but rather to set out the facts so that fashion businesses can make informed decisions in relation to sourcing practices.
In relation to sourcing from China, we are keen to make sure that the negative as well as the positive aspects of sourcing are clear. Fashion businesses source from allover the world, and through this there are opportunities to improve livelihoods and support communities at the site of production. Through practical examples of best practices we aim to support businesses to do this.
Description of project submitted for funding:
Fashion + aims to reduce poverty and create sustainable livelihoods in the supply chains to the UK fashion industry.
The project will do this through:
1. Increasing understanding of development issues amongst fashion professionals, in particular the opportunities for poverty reduction
2. Providing the tools and resources fashion professionals need to make informed choices in their working roles
The project aims to integrate training on development, poverty reduction and sustainable livelihood creation as a core part of fashion business training in the UK.
Link to this