Letter to Dr David Sweeney, Executive Chair of Research England

Dear Dr Sweeney,

Through repeated spamming, I have become aware of a conference organised by an outfit called Westminster Insight on the subject of REF2021. The conference is fully privatised and will occur behind a very high paywall. I did try to raise this issue with Research England on Twitter but was met with a bland statement that did not address my questions. Further questions were ignored, so I wonder if you would be so kind as to answer the following:

1. What is the rationale behind a public body – Research England – providing two keynote speakers at a wholly privatised conference?
2. Has Research England conducted due diligence on Research England? In particular, is Research England aware of their spamming practice, and the likelihood that they are not GDPR compliant? Further, does Research England condone the spam, and has it considdered the reputational damage of consorting with a firm like Westminister Insight (whose website lacks basic information: Take a look at the “About us” section here: https://westminsterinsight.com/about-us/ and the fact that much of their spam comes from a “John Smith” does raise questions)? Can Research England make the due diligence report public?
3. What practical steps will Research England engage in to ensure that attendees at the conference will not have competitive advantage in REF2021? For example, will there be free live streaming, will there be a freely available transcript, and can there be a guarantee of no corridor conversations?