Local Authority submissions portal
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information:
Quality assurance data
1) Has the Gambling Commission been notified about or otherwise identified any information processing issues with its LA Submission Portal affecting the 2019/20 to 2022/23 reporting periods (inclusive) which might result in a dash being mapped to cells within its Licensing Authority Statistics spreadsheets, when, in fact an authority has supplied a submission?
2) If the answer to Question 1 is Yes, does the Gambling Commission intend to make a statement to that effect on the relevant web pages and to any key stakeholders?
Portal confirmation process and their contribution to democracy and governance.
3) If the answer to Question 1 is No, what type of confirmation would the Gambling Commission have sent to Licensing Authorities when their annual submissions have been successfully received by the Portal?
4) Where a submission confirmation is sent to a Licensing Authority (as per Question 3), who receives a copy of that confirmation (e.g.licensing team officers, councillor chairs of relevant committees, governance officers of relevant committees etc)?
Specific Correspondence
5) Please provide email/LA Submission portal correspondence (since October 2023) between staff members of London Borough of Barnet (LBB) and the Gambling Commission specifically regarding the apparent non-supply of the Annual submissions by LBB.
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested:
Quality assurance data
1) Has the Gambling Commission been notified about or otherwise identified any information processing issues with its LA Submission Portal affecting the 2019/20 to 2022/23 reporting periods (inclusive) which might result in a dash being mapped to cells within its Licensing Authority Statistics spreadsheets, when, in fact an authority has supplied a submission?
2) If the answer to Question 1 is Yes, does the Gambling Commission intend to make a statement to that effect on the relevant web pages and to any key stakeholders?
Portal confirmation process and their contribution to democracy and governance.
3) If the answer to Question 1 is No, what type of confirmation would the Gambling Commission have sent to Licensing Authorities when their annual submissions have been successfully received by the Portal?
4) Where a submission confirmation is sent to a Licensing Authority (as per Question 3), who receives a copy of that confirmation (e.g.licensing team officers, councillor chairs of relevant committees, governance officers of relevant committees etc)?
Specific Correspondence
5) Please provide email/LA Submission portal correspondence (since October 2023) between staff members of London Borough of Barnet (LBB) and the Gambling Commission specifically regarding the apparent non-supply of the Annual submissions by LBB.
In order to be of assistance, the Gambling Commission can confirm the following:
1) The Gambling Commission has not been notified of, or otherwise identified, any information processing issues with the LA Submission Portal affecting the reporting periods between 2019/2020 to 2022/2023.
2) N/A.
3) The LA Submission Portal does not provide confirmation in terms of automated email responses when submissions have been successfully received by the Portal.
4) Please see answer to question 3. The Gambling Commission can, however, confirm that all correspondence is sent to the main email contact on our system for each LA.
5) There has been no correspondence between the London Borough of Barnet and the Gambling Commission since October 2023.
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