Money passed by HIE to Elena Corchero and LostValues through the Distance Lab

The request was partially successful.

Dear Distance Lab Limited,

I am looking for further details about the company "LostValues" which, as I understand, was founded by one of the Distance Lab (DL) employee (one Elena Corchero) during the time of her employment in the Lab.

I am also trying to understand how much public money has been given to Mrs. Corchero to start and grow her own company, what procedure was followed for the allocation of such money and the grounds on which such money was invested.

Could you please confirm the following?
- is LostValues a private limited company with Mrs. Elena Corchero as a majority shareholder?
- how much money in total has been spent to date in travel, equipment, marketing, personnel, etc. by the DL and its employees on LostValues?
- has LostValues received any other form of investment other than the expenses mentioned above?
- Has LostValues generated any revenue for the Distance Lab? if so, how much?
- How much was Elena Corchero paid in salaries during her employment in the DL?
- Was Elena Corchero working on the LostValues project in her own time or on DL time?
- if the latter, was her salary revised in light of the time that she was spending on her own private project?

Last, if LostValues is in fact a private company, could you please explain in what way the procedure followed by the DL to spend public money for the benefit of one single private company (i.e. LostValues) and one single individual (i.e. Elena Corchero) is not a breach of the normal procedure put in place by the Scottish Government which regulates how public money is invested and distributed in the private sector?

Many thanks

Yours faithfully,

Karm Holmes

Paula Nichols, Distance Lab Limited

Dear Karm,
I confirm receipt of the above-captioned FOI request. This will be dealt
with under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, within 20 working
days.
Kind regards
Paula Nichols
On 4 Aug 2010, at 13:06, Karm Holmes wrote:

Dear Distance Lab Limited,

I am looking for further details about the company "LostValues"
which, as I understand, was founded by one of the Distance Lab (DL)
employee (one Elena Corchero) during the time of her employment in
the Lab.

I am also trying to understand how much public money has been given
to Mrs. Corchero to start and grow her own company, what procedure
was followed for the allocation of such money and the grounds on
which such money was invested.

Could you please confirm the following?
- is LostValues a private limited company with Mrs. Elena Corchero
as a majority shareholder?
- how much money in total has been spent to date in travel,
equipment, marketing, personnel, etc. by the DL and its employees
on LostValues?
- has LostValues received any other form of investment other than
the expenses mentioned above?
- Has LostValues generated any revenue for the Distance Lab? if so,
how much?
- How much was Elena Corchero paid in salaries during her
employment in the DL?
- Was Elena Corchero working on the LostValues project in her own
time or on DL time?
- if the latter, was her salary revised in light of the time that
she was spending on her own private project?

Last, if LostValues is in fact a private company, could you please
explain in what way the procedure followed by the DL to spend
public money for the benefit of one single private company (i.e.
LostValues) and one single individual (i.e. Elena Corchero) is not
a breach of the normal procedure put in place by the Scottish
Government which regulates how public money is invested and
distributed in the private sector?

Many thanks

Yours faithfully,

Karm Holmes

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[1]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about...

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #43632 email]

Is [3][Distance Lab Limited request email] the wrong address for Freedom of
Information requests to Distance Lab Limited? If so please contact
us using this form:
[4]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact

If you find WhatDoTheyKnow useful as an FOI officer, please ask
your web manager to suggest us on your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about...
2. mailto:[FOI #43632 email]
3. mailto:[Distance Lab Limited request email]
4. http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact

Distance Lab Limited

Dear Karm Holmes,

In reply to your email, received on 04 August 2010, Distance Lab Ltd has
responded to your request for information below.

Is Lost Values a private limited company with Mrs Elena Corchero as a
majority shareholder?

We can confirm Lost Values is a private limited company and, as such,
details on shareholdings are available from Companies House
-http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/

How much money in total has been spent to date in travel, equipment,
marketing, personnel, etc by the DL and its employees on Lost Values?

Distance Lab Ltd has never purchased items that solely benefit
individuals/external businesses, including the company ‘Lost Values’, and
therefore we hold no information relevant to this request.

Has Lost Values received any other form of investment other than the
expenses mentioned above?

We have provided no other form of investment to Lost Values.

Has Lost Values generated any revenue for the Distance Lab? If so, how much?

Distance Lab Ltd has received revenue from Lost Values in the form of
royalty payments generated from an intellectual property licence
agreement. Please note that this licence is non-exclusive and therefore
the intellectual property is available to others that may approach. We
have decided to withhold details on the revenue generated as we consider
disclosure would damage the commercial interests of Lost Values by
revealing the company’s sales levels (section 33 (1) (b) of the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002). The use of exemption 33 (1) (b) also
requires HIE to make an assessment of where the public interest lies and
in this case it was decided the public interest was in ensuring the
continuing competitiveness of the company.

How much was Elena Corchero paid in salaries during her employment with
Distance Lab?

Distance Lab Ltd has decided to withhold this information as we consider
disclosure would breach the first data protection principle, data should
be processed fairly and lawfully (section 38 (1) (b) of the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002).

Was Elena Corchero working on the Lost Values project in her own time or
on DL time?

We hold no recorded information on this matter; however, we are confident
that Elena Corchero did not spend time on the company ‘Lost Values’ during
her working hours with Distance Lab Ltd.

If the latter, was her salary revised in light of the time that she was
spending on her own private project?

Please see response to previous question.

I trust you will find this information of use, but should you wish to
request any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), you have the
right to request a review of the decision or any aspect of the process
with which you are dissatisfied. Should you wish to exercise that right,
you will need to contact us within 40 working days of receipt of this
email. If you remain dissatisfied on completion of the review, you have
the right to appeal to the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner, who can be contacted by email:
[email address] .

Kind regards,

Distance Lab Ltd

Karm Holmes left an annotation ()

To whoever else is trying to contact me with regards to this request. I tried replying to you but, unfortunately, I can not reply without revealing my identity and I fear retaliation by the people at HIE behind the Distance Lab and who've been involved with LostValues. As a small business trying to make a living in the Highlands, I can not afford that. I hope you can understand.

To those who asked me how my investigation went, I'd say that:
- You can judge yourself the transparency (or lack thereof) of the information provided in the answer posted to this forum. This is an answer in itself, isn't it?
- my own investigation has regretfully not brought up any hard evidence that could prove what I already know that went on at DL and LostValues.
- I and several people -some of whom very prominent in the Highlands and Islands- who have witnessed first-hand what has gone on in relation to both DL and LostValues knows that a lot of public funding has been wasted on useless toys and activities that, in my personal opinion, have benefited more the individuals involved than the community.

Any other information about LostValues can be found on companieshouse or requesting a credit check at any of the credit check bureau available on the internet.

Best of luck.