Dear Department for Business and Trade,

Dear Information Rights Unit,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my previous enquiry, dated 9th October and referenced 1036028-3510dc0f@whattheyneedtoknow.

Your response was dated 16 November 2023 but in the intervening period I have not been particularly well so hence the delay in my review. Due to the time lapse I have had to commence this new request.

Question 1

I want to know how many people attended the Investment Conference in Belfast on 13/9/23?

In your previous response you only shared, when asked, the number of 'invited international delegates' who attended. The number you gave was 181. This is not what I asked for and only provided me with a subset, of your choosing, of the total number of people in the room. Hence the number was an underestimate.

I am sure you can be more open but if the question needs to be precise from me then please can you simply confirm how many passes were issued to attendees to enter the main hall on the day?'

Question 1b

How many of those attending (issued with a pass on the day - see 1 above) were male and how many female?

Question 2

Of those total attendees in the main room/Hall at the Investment Conference Belfast 13/9/23 are you able to breakout the numbers who were working or invited associates of Dept for Business & Trade, NIO, InvestNI?

Clearly if you are aware of other public sector bodies having attended on the day in material numbers (for example more than 2 people) please can you share the organisation and the respective numbers?

Question 2b

How many of those identified in Question 2 above were male and how many female?

Whilst I recognise that my illness time me out and I have had to issue a new request I hope that these questions, necessary due to gaps in your initial response, can be addressed as a priority as whilst I recognise my own health has held up this request for correction the Information is key to a wider set of work of mine.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Dally

Dear Department for Business and Trade,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Business and Trade's handling of my FOI request 'Investment Conference Belfast 13/9/23 - Attendance Breakdown'.

I have made two requests regarding this event and to be honest I have found the responses opaque.

To simplify I am seeking the information in relation to the number of female attendees at the International Investment Conference compared to men. My first request did receive a split but only for a sub set of attendees. A sub set that I had not asked for or even defined.

I was unwell and had to submit a new request as time had lapsed.

The second request received an even more opaque response as in short it said the information did not exist.

All I want to know is:

- How many invitations were issued…I believe approx 700
- How many people attended the event…I believe approx 400
- How many of the attendees were females…I believe you know this but won’t share

I do not think this is correct and urge that this review advances materially efforts to provide the simple info. In the month of International Womens Day I trust that the review with help shine a light on a very non diverse publicly funded function.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...

Yours faithfully,

mark dally