Expenditure on Coprorate Hospitality

Dear Mr. Shorrock,

Thank you for your request for information disclosure under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, in which you requested a breakdown of
expenditure incurred in providing corporate hospitality to members of
the Agency, Partners, Investors and clients during 2007/08.

I acknowledge receipt of your requests received 21st October 2008 and
advise that I am dealing with them in accordance with the Act.

Please ensure that you quote the above reference on any future
correspondence regarding your request.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Mason

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Dear Mr. Shorrock,

I write in response to your request for information disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, in which you requested a breakdown of
expenditure incurred in providing corporate hospitality to members of the
Agency, Partners, Investors and Clients during 2007/08.

A definition of `corporate hospitality' has been agreed by the RDA Network
as:

o Any tickets and/or events which we pay for to take partners
o When an additional table is purchased at an event the Agency is
sponsoring (free tables provided as part of a sponsorship deal are not
included)

Yorkshire Forward does not provide corporate hospitality in the usual
sense of paying for clients or partners to attend sporting or
entertainment events, and our answer below adheres to this definition.

As part of our work developing the region's economy, Yorkshire Forward has
and does run thousands of projects. Many of these projects will have
events and meetings where attendees would, for example, have had lunch
provided. These meetings and events are part of our day-to-day business
and are not considered to be "corporate hospitality". It would not be
possible to extract this kind of information within the statutory
appropriate limit under the Freedom of Information Act, which for
Yorkshire Forward is £450 (or 18hrs X £25).

Given this, Corporate Hospitality spend by Yorkshire Forward in the year
2007/8 was as follows:

Royal Television Society Awards - £400 for a table at the event. We
invited regional partners to attend this celebration of the region's
cultural sector.

Copyright: You should also be aware that, if you want to re-use or
reproduce the publications or information provided by Yorkshire Forward
from a request under the Freedom of Information Act (for example,
commercially or for circulation to third parties) you may need to apply
for a copyright licence.

I trust this information is helpful to you.

As this request has been logged as a request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act, Yorkshire Forward is obliged to offer you the
right to complain. If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled
your request, or if you are unhappy with our response, you can appeal via
our Complaints Procedure, a copy of which is attached. The Yorkshire
Forward Directorate that has been dealing with your request is Finance. If
you are still dissatisfied after pursuing our Complaints Procedure,
then you may wish to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone: 01625 545700, fax: 01625 524510 or email
[1][email address]

The Information Commissioner's website is: [2]www.ico.gov.uk

Kind Regards
Rachel

Rachel Mason
Corporate Information Officer
Yorkshire Forward
Victoria House
2 Victoria Place
Leeds, LS11 5AE
Direct Line: 0113 3949677

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