Dear Sir or Madam,

I read statements such as "With editorial media coverage worth £24
million, orders worth £40 million and business for London worth
over £100 million London Fashion Week proves it is good for
designers, good for fashion and good for London."

One report in The Times claimed that the dry cleaning industry
benefited from London Fashion Week taxpayer spending.

What is the statistical method for claiming a benefit to the
economy from London Fashion Week?

I think this is an important question for taxpayers because I
visited the exhibition last year. It was quiet. Goods were
expensive. A stall offered me fair trade Indian vegan ballerina
shoes for £25 wholesale on a minimum order of 18 pairs (usual price
on edgeshoes.net is about a fifth). It turned out that the fair
trade credentials were not certified. The people who claimed to be
the shoes "designers" had not known. The same company quote on
their web site the difficulty of getting shoes made close to home,
and how they tried three times but found that their supplier closed
each time. Does my cancelled order count as part of the benefit to
the London economy, and taxes spent by those factories that closed?
On a larger scale Burberry have closed their Welsh polo shirt
factory after improbable claims about costs, but are still
subsidised to show. Does an order for a Burberry Chinese polo shirt
count?

I think this is an important question for the footwear trade
because I think three of the last mens UK footwear factories in the
midlands have closed recently (Equity Grenson Sanders), and I think
that footwear designers can't work independently of a factory; they
can't make something on the kitchen table and email a picture to
China. They need a factory within travelling distance that speaks
the same language where they can go and see the tools available.

Yours faithfully,

John Robertson

Dear Mr Robertson,
Please find attached a scanned letter acknowledging your request for
information under the Freedom of Information Act.
Regards,

Sophie Dimmock

Public Affairs Executive
020 7593 8581 [1][email address]

London Development Agency
Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8AA

Switchboard: 020 7593 8000 

Please consider the environment before printing this email or its
attachments.

<<LDALIVE-#3240463-v1-FOI_432_Scanned_Acknowledgment.PDF>>

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Dear Mr Robertson,

Please find attached a scanned letter in response to your request for
information.
Kind regards,

Sophie Dimmock

Public Affairs Executive
020 7593 8581 [1][email address]

London Development Agency
Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8AA

Switchboard: 020 7593 8000 

Please consider the environment before printing this email or its
attachments.

<<LDALIVE-#3281011-v1-FOI_432_Scanned_Response.PDF>>

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Dear Sophie Dimmock,
What form does the biannual update from British Fashion Council to
London Development Agency take, in its analysis of outcomes of LDA
funding?
Is it a formal report?
Is it a minuted meeting?

What form did the last full evaluation by external auditors take?

The reason for asking is that I expect to make a follow-up freedom
of information act request, but don't want to ask for something
that doesn't exist.

Yours sincerely,

John Robertson

Dear Mr Robertson,

Thank you for your email following on from our response to your request
for information.

We can confirm that the biannual update provided to the LDA by the British
Fashion Council (BFC) is in the form of a formal report. Please let us
know if you would like to request these documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

With reference to the external evaluation of the project, please note that
this takes the form of an externally commissioned impact evaluation. This
work is currently being undertaken with an expected completion date of
January 2010.

We understand that a meeting is currently being arranged between yourself
and the British Fashion Council. The LDA would be more than happy to
attend this meeting in order to answer any further questions that you may
have regarding this project.

Please be advised that any further requests for information under the
Freedom of Information Act should be submitted to [London Development Agency request email].

We hope this information is of use.

Regards,

Sophie Dimmock

Public Affairs Executive
020 7593 8581 [1][email address]

London Development Agency
Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8AA

Switchboard: 020 7593 8000 

Please consider the environment before printing this email or its
attachments.

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Thank you

Dear Ms Dimmock,
If invited to a meeting I'd ask whether London Fashion Council
could immediately ask all exhibitors & applicants to reveal their
manufacturing sources, in the hope that they agree, and make it a
condition for future applicants. This would increase the number of
people benefiting from publicity to designers and factories.

Secondly I'd ask whether changes could be made in the competition
to exhibit. I don't know what would work but judgement by people
who do not know who has submitted the application could be good.
Also, contacting every sewing, shoe, and accessories factory in the
UK to invite them to nominate any good customers for judgement. I
know that fashion colleges are very keen to get jobs for their
favourite graduates but factories are too, and should be the only
ones allowed to nominate.

Thirdly, I'd want to know more detail about why the event costs
more than commercial trade shows; I'd hope for more detailed BFC
accounts before the meeting.

Fourthly, I'd want more detail about the business support element
of the grant and how to benefit more than the current handful of
annual recipients. A technical college - a bit like Open University
- for fashion or footwear would be good. Or a directory of
resources. Some subsidised institutions claim to be filling that
role already so there's some contentious detail to discuss.

I write this to you now because delays in getting information, and
a bank holiday, have delayed the chance of a meeting. The formal
invitation was to an assembly member, Darren Johnson, who may not
want to meet or have met LFC already but I am keen to meet British
Fashion Council with questions and suggestions anyway, and hope you
can arrange a meeting if the assembly member falls silent.

Yours sincerely,

John Robertson

I will be out of the office from 10/12/09, returning on 05/01/10.

On matters relating to general enquiries, FOIs or complaints, please
contact Fiona Sagar:

[email address]

On matters relating to PQs please contact Nabil Hanafi:

[email address]

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References

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Dear Mr Robertson,

Thank you for your email below and apologies for the delay in responding.

With reference to the potential meeting between yourself and the British
Fashion Council referred to in your email, please be advised that this is
being coordinated by Emma Graham-Campbell of the British Fashion Council.
If you would like to contact her directly to arrange a suitable date and
time for the meeting, please find her contact details below:

Emma Graham-Campbell
Assistant to Simon Ward, Caroline Rush,
Joint Chief Executives
and Hilary Riva,
Chair of Development Committee
British Fashion Council
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7759 1999
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7759 1998
DL: +44 (0) 20 7759 1995
With reference to your email, I would be happy to pass the information to
the British Fashion Council in order for them to feed the topics raised
into the agenda of the meeting. Alternatively, you may want to pass the
information to them directly. Please confirm your preferred action.

I hope this is of use and apologies again for the delayed response.
Regards,

Sophie Dimmock

Public Affairs Executive
020 7593 8581 [1][email address]

London Development Agency
Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8AA

Switchboard: 020 7593 8000 

Please consider the environment before printing this email or its
attachments.

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