R6-33

The Cabinet Office sponsorship principles should include a requirement that departments must satisfy themselves, before they begin to seek sponsorship, that any sponsorship is likely to produce significant net benefit for the department, at no detriment to the public interest. Departments should in particular examine rigorously whether: (a) particular activities should be excluded from sponsorship, and (b) particular types of company could be held to be unsuitable for consideration as sponsors on the grounds of potential conflicts of interest or inappropriate association.