Lived Experience Advisory Panel
Request
On 5 September 2023, the Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee(CMSSC), Caroline Dinenage, asked if the 'Gambling Commission Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) should include those who do enjoy gambling safely and have never had any health issues.'
I have to assert in relation to equality and balance, the need for LEAP to contain professional gamblers or at the very least to liaise with them.
On your website, it states: 'To ensure balance, the Gambling Commission engage with other consumers, including those who gamble without suffering harm. This is done through a variety of surveys, panels, stakeholder engagement activities, and research.' Lived Experience Advisory Boards.
In the interests of transparency, I would like the Commission to disclose the members of such panels and the results of the surveys and research.
I hope one of those panels have at least one professional gambler. They use high stakes and will have inevitable losing periods.
REDACTED
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have referenced Gambling Commission Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) and by extension, the decision-making which draws on the advice it receives from its expert advisory groups alongside other evidence and input from a wide range of stakeholders. To ensure balance, the Gambling Commission engage with other consumers, including those who gamble without suffering harm. This is done through a variety of surveys, panels, stakeholder engagement activities and research.
You have requested the members of such panels and the results of the surveys and research.
The Commission has three expert advisory groups who provide us with independent advice to support the development of our regulatory approach. Each group is made up of different types of expertise – including academia and public health, digital and technology, and lived experience of gambling harms. You can read more about each group, its members, and its role here:
The National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms (the National Strategy) was launched in April 2019 and ran until April 2022. The Gambling Commission published this strategy following extensive engagement and input from a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in reducing gambling harms.
National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms Archive.
During the life of the National Strategy, we shared progress on projects, programmes and services delivered by the range of stakeholders involved in reducing gambling harms, in the form of an implementation actions map.
This guide provides links to the archived material that was published to support the National Strategy.
Our advisors, the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling, published annual reports on progress with delivering the National Strategy. These annual reports can be found on the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling’s website.
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.
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
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP