Correspondence with the London School of Economics
Request
Please can you send me all correspondence between the Gambling Commission and the London School of Economics and any associated documents? The period for this request is the last 12 months.
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you and for any inconvenience this may have caused.
In your email you have requested all correspondence between the Gambling Commission and the London School of Economics and any associated documents for the last 12 months. In order to fulfil your request we conducted a search across all Gambling Commission emails for correspondence between ‘@gamblingcommission.gov.uk’ AND ‘@lse.ac.uk’ addresses between the dates 06/11/2024 - 06/11/2025.
Please see the attached information falling within the scope of your request.
We have redacted from this document, information relating to identifiable individuals that would constitute personal data under section 40 of the FOIA.
Section 40
The Data Protection Act 2018 requires personal data to be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject. It is the view of the Commission that disclosing the personal information contained within the attached documents would constitute the disclosure of personal data and would contravene this principle.
This includes the email addresses, opinions and any other personal identifiable information. This information is therefore exempt under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Further to this, we consider that information identifying this level of detail about individual companies, to be of a commercially sensitive nature. This level of detail is not otherwise in the public domain. Therefore, we are of the view that this information is exempt under section 43 of the FOIA.
Section 43(2) Commercial Interests
Section 43(2) of the FOIA provides that information is exempt information if: its disclosure under the FOIA would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
The Public Interest Test
Having acknowledged that some of the information within the scope of your request is exempt from disclosure, section 43 FOIA requires that we consider a public interest test to identify whether there is a wider public interest in fulfilling this request opposed to maintaining the exemption.
Public interest arguments in favour of disclosure
- It is recognised that there is a legitimate public interest in promoting the transparency of the Commission and in making information available to the public.
- In addition, there is a legitimate public interest in members of the public having confidence the Commission is being open and honest with the data it holds so that it can be held to account.
Public interest arguments in favour of maintaining the exemption
- Businesses which have interacted with the Commission have a reasonable expectation that their information would not be published on an individual basis, particularly whilst they are trading.
- Details of individual companies not directly associated with the gambling industry does not contribute to supporting consumers with their choice of operator.
Weighing the Balance of public interest arguments
Whilst the Commission aims to be open and transparent, there is a need to preserve the confidentiality of information submitted on that basis and to be mindful of the commercial sensitivities of information that is held.
Having weighed these issues, the Commission is of the view that the public interest is best served through maintaining this exemption. There is very little that providing this information would do in terms of the public interest, whilst disclosure would be likely to impact on the commercial interests of individual companies.
Some of the information in the scope of your request is publicly available. Section 21 of the FOIA provides that information is exempt where it is reasonably accessible elsewhere. This information can be viewed here:
- Guidance on using statistics from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain
- Three Experiments on the Causes of Differences in Estimates of Gambling and Gambling Impacts in General Population Surveys (opens in a new tab)
Review of the decision
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.
Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.
If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.
It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.
The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Information Management Team
Gambling Commission
Files
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