Political affiliations of GC staff

Request

I would like to request details of the political affiliations of all Gambling Commission (GC) staff or individuals who have been involved in conducting or have had sight of the investigation related to betting on the General Election. This includes any individuals who have been involved in the decision-making, intelligence gathering, or case management processes.

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your request you asked for details of the political affiliations of all Gambling Commission staff or individuals who have been involved in conducting or have had sight of the investigation related to betting on the General Election. This includes any individuals who have been involved in the decision-making, intelligence gathering, or case management processes.

Further to this you have requested any available information, including details on any processes or policies regarding the disclosure of political affiliations within the Gambling Commission.

On 21 June 2024 an email was sent to any Gambling Commission employees who had the potential to be directly involved with the investigation related to betting on the General Election. This communication requested any declarations of any active political affiliations, such as, donations to a party/candidate standing for election, volunteering for a party within the last 12 months, holding a position within a political party or being a candidate. For clarity the scope of this request does not cover information about individual voting intentions or voting history, just active political engagement.

No individuals who have been involved in the decision-making, intelligence gathering, or case management process made any such declarations.

Finally, the Gambling Commission has a policy on managing conflicts of interest. The purpose of this policy is to explain:

• types of interests
• when a conflict of interest may arise
• how conflicts will be managed
• which conflicts are incompatible with roles at the Gambling Commission
• the obligations of individuals in declaring and managing conflicts.

This policy applies to the following groups of people:

• Commissioners
• independent members of Commission committees
• Commission employees
• independent contractors working with the Commission
• members of Commission advisory groups.

One of the types of interests described within this policy is political interests and it includes standing for elected office or holding a position in a political party.

Section 21 of the FOIA provides that information is exempt where it is reasonably accessible elsewhere. This policy is available to view on the Gambling Commission 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. 

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