On 3rd April 2012 I submitted a Freedom of Information request to the BBC. This is the BBC's response (received 17th May 2012) to a question about BBC Director-General Mark Thompson's meetings with Members of Parliament.


Freedom of Information Act 2000 – RFI20120369

Part 1 of your request
Please find listed below details of meetings and phone calls which Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, has had with MP’s over the last 18 months.


01/11/2010  Meeting with Ivan Lewis MP
03/11/2010  Meeting with Frank Field MP & Lord Sainsbury
04/11/2010  Telephone call with Jeremy Hunt MP
30/11/2010  Meeting with Ivan Lewis MP & Ian Murray MP
09/12/2010  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
14/12/2010  Meeting at Foreign Office with: William Hague MP & Jeremy Hunt MP
15/03/2011  Meeting with Ed Vaizey MP
22/06/2011  Meeting with Daniel Hannan MEP
28/06/2011  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
04/07/2011  Phone call with Alex Salmond MSP
10/08/2011  Phone call with Alex Salmond MSP
07/09/2011  Meeting with Cheryl Gillan MP
17/10/2011  Meeting with Bill Cash MP
03/11/2011  Meeting with Carwyn Jones AM
05/10/2011  Phone call with Jeremy Hunt MP
24/10/2011  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
22/11/2011  Meeting with Alex Salmond MSP
07/12/2011  Meeting with Nick Clegg MP
11/01/2012  Meeting with Ed Milliband MP
19/01/2012  Meeting with David Cameron
24/01/2012  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
31/01/2012  Meeting with Philip Davies MP
06/02/2012  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
06/02/2012  Meeting with Menzies Campbell MP
09/02/2012  Meeting with Arlene Foster MLA
17/02/2012  Meeting with Gisela Stuart MP
27/02/2012  Meeting with Nadine Dorries MP and Tessa Munt MP
19/03/2012  Phone call with Jeremy Hunt MP
19/03/2012  Phone call with Don Foster MP
20/03/2012  Meeting with Labour Front Bench DCMS team Baroness Maggie Jones, Lord Wilf Stevenson, Lord Ray Collins followed by meeting with backbench group.

In addition to the above meetings and phone calls, Mark Thompson hosted a number of events and briefings with question and answer sessions during the period specified in your request. These events include lunches, dinners and receptions and the details are set out in the table below. Such events are standard across the industry and used for a wide range of reasons; from developing partnerships with external organisations and institutions, to publicising new programming and building relationships with our external stakeholders. Guests invited to these events represent a broad cross-section of community representatives, opinion-formers and the media. It is not always possible to provide a definitive list of attendees for these types of events as many MPs and Peers do not RSVP to invites and a record is not kept on the day.

The BBC is careful to ensure corporate hospitality events provide value for money and in recent years, has significantly decreased the amount of corporate hospitality we offer.

Please note that the dinners held at Mark Thompson’s home on 2 October 2010 and 20 November 2010 were at no cost to the BBC.


02/10/2010 Private dinner at Mark Thompson’s home – guests included Jeremy Hunt MP

02/11/2010 MP Briefing, attendees:
Luciana Berger MP
Gemma Doyle MP
Jack Dromey MP
Bill Esterson MP
Lisa Nandy MP
Alison McGovern MP
Catherine McKinnell MP
Ian Mearns MP
Tessa Pearce MP

09/11/2010 MP Briefing, attendees:
Andrea Leadsom MP
Nick De Bois MP
Damian Hinds MP
Dan Byles MP
Jo Johnson MP
Karen Lumley MP
Mark Garnier MP
Michael Ellis MP
Richard Graham MP
Simon Kirby MP
Stuart Andrew MP

20/11/2010 Private dinner at Mark Thompson’s home – guests included Ben Bradshaw MP

07/12/2010 MP Briefing, attendees:
Alistair Carmichael MP
Norman Baker MP
Don Foster MP
Duncan Hames MP
Steve Webb MP
Andrew George MP
Peers:
Lord Addington
Baroness Kathryn Parminter
Baroness Neuberger

18/01/2011 MP Briefing, attendees:
Rushanara Ali MP
Tom Blenkinsop MP
Pat Glass MP
Graham Jones MP
Graeme Morrice MP
Bridget Phillipson MP
Emma Reynolds MP
Jonathan Reynolds MP
Liz Kendall MP
Pamela Nash MP
Anas Sarwar MP
Gavin Shuker MP
Owen Smith MP
Valerie Vaz MP

12/07/2011 BBC All Party Parliamentary Group - topic of discussion: BBC Annual Report

09/09/2011 Northwest MPs Visit to MediaCityUK, attendees:
Ian Lewis MP
Hazel Blears MP
Paul Goggins MP
Andrew Miller MP
Yvonne Fovargue MP

18/10/2011 MP Briefing, attendees:
Dame Anne Begg MP
Luciana Berger MP
Dr Therese Coffey MP
Damian Collins MP
Paul Farrelly MP
Tim Farron MP
Helen Goodman MP
Louise Mensch MP
Mark Menzies MP
Austin Mitchell MP
Owen Smith MP
Rory Stewart MP
Peers:
Baroness Bonham-Carter
Lord Bragg
Baroness Fookes
Lord Fowler
Lord Glasgow
Lord Grocott
Baroness Howe
Lord Inglewood
Lord Jones of Cheltenham
Lord Lipsey
Baroness Neville-Jones
Lord Newby
Baroness Scott
Lord Stevenson
Lord Storey

02/11/2011 BBC All Party Parliamentary Group - topic of discussion: Delivering Quality First

28/02/2012 MP Briefing, attendees:
Luciana Berger MP
Dr Therese Coffey MP
Damian Collins MP
Philip Davies MP
Paul Farrelly MP
Don Foster MP
Helen Goodman MP
Tessa Jowell MP
Mark Menzies MP
Gerry Sutcliffe MP
Rob Wilson MP
Peers:
Lord Birt
Baroness Bonham-Carter
Lord Bragg
Baroness Deech
Lord Gordon of Strathblane
Baroness Howe
Lord Inglewood
Rt Rev Graham James
Lord Skelmersdale
Lord Smith

Mark Thompson also attended a number of externally hosted events, the details of which are provided in the table below. As the BBC did not host these events no further details about attendance are held. This list of events does not include Mr Thompson’s appearances at Parliamentary Committees and Hearings, for example, Select Committee and House of Lords Communications Committee.


16/03/2011 Attended creative industries round table lunch hosted by Vince Cable, MP and Jeremy Hunt MP
31/03/2011 Attended event hosted by Ed Vaizey MP
08/06/2011 Attended Founders Forum reception at Downing Street
14/09/2011 Attended dinner hosted by Jeremy Hunt MP at the RTS in Cambridge