Audit of the National Fraud Initiative

Request

1. When are you next going through an audit of the national fraud initiative?

2. What current procedures do you have in place such as confirmation of payee against fraud?

3. What is your current confirmation of payee software incumbent product & the renewal date of the contract?

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. When are you next going through an audit of the National Fraud Initiative?
2. What current procedures do you have in place such as confirmation of payee against fraud?
3. What is your current confirmation of payee software incumbent product & the renewal date of the contract?

The Gambling Commission can confirm as follows:

Question 1:

The National Fraud Initiative is not covered by the internal audit programme. As such, no information falling within the scope of this part of your request is held by the Commission.

Question 2:

In relation to the Commission’s procedures for confirmation of payee against fraud, all new suppliers are run through a series of checks to validate the organisation and their bank details. If a bank requests to change their bank details, the Commission verifies this request with the organisation or individual based on the information that the Commission holds on them.

Refunds are given to the same bank details that the payment was originally made from. If this is not possible, refunds are referred through the Commission’s Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) process before refunding.

Question 3:

In order for us to progress this part of your request, the Commission requires further clarification with regards to the information you have requested.

The Freedom of Information Act covers recorded information held by a public authority at the time a request is made and does not require a public authority to create information in order to fulfil a request.

Unfortunately, your request is not sufficiently clear to enable us to locate or identify the recorded information you are requesting, and we do need further information from you to enable us to process your request further.

In your request you have referred to a current confirmation of payee software incumbent product & the renewal date of the contract. As such, in order for the Commission to fulfil your request, please clarify the ‘payee software incumbent product’ you are referring to.

Your clarified request will represent a new request for information and the new 20 working day time limit will commence from the day after your clarified request is received.

Until we are able to process the search and retrieval of the information you have requested, we are unable to ascertain if any exemptions will apply to the material retrieved, which would also prevent disclosure.

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