National Centre for Social Research and Dr James Noyes
Request
1) Please can you disclose all correspondence between the Gambling Commission and National Centre for Social Research between 1 January 2020 and the present date, with a targeted search for the following:
- 'selection bias'
- 'response bias'
- 'desirability bias'
- 'biased estimate'
2) Please can you disclose all correspondence between the Gambling Commission and Dr James Noyes of the Social Market Foundation between 1 January 2020 and the present date?
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested:
1) Please can you disclose all correspondence between the Gambling Commission and National Centre for Social Research between 1 January 2020 and the present date, with a targeted search for the following:
- 'selection bias'
- 'response bias'
- 'desirability bias'
- 'biased estimate'
2) Please can you disclose all correspondence between the Gambling Commission and Dr James Noyes of the Social Market Foundation between 1 January 2020 and the present date.
Please see the attached information held by the Gambling Commission we are able to disclose falling within the scope of your request.
In relation to part one of your request, please note that we have not disclosed draft copies of documents or documents that have already been published. Please let us know if you require copies of these documents and we can review what information could be provided to you.
The following exemption applies to both part one and part two of your request.
Section 40(2)
Section 40(2) of FOIA exempts information from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. Therefore, in order to disclose this information, the Commission must be satisfied it has a lawful basis to do so.
A more specific breakdown of this information would constitute personal information relating to identifiable individuals. The Data Protection Act 2018 requires the processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. The Commission considers that it would be disproportionate for us to publicly disclose the personal data of these individuals, as there is no strong public interest in doing so. The personal information includes email addresses and names.
There is no legitimate expectation that the personal information of these individuals will be disclosed in the context in which it is held.
On balance, there is no legitimate public interest in disclosing this information and it would not be fair to do so.
This information is therefore exempt under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
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
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