19 November 2020 - Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners
Location: Virtual meeting by Skype
Commissioners:
- Bill Moyes (Chair)
- Terry Babbs
- John Baillie
- Brian Bannister (up to item 17)
- Carol Brady
- Stephen Cohen
- Jo Hill
- Trevor Pearce
- Catharine Seddon
In attendance:
- Neil McArthur (CEO)
- Paul Hope
- Sally Jones (COO)
- Tim Miller
- Tamsin Morgan
- John Tanner
- Helen Venn
- Richard Watson
- (REDACTED) (Board Secretary)
- (REDACTED)(Legal)
- (REDACTED) (notes)
- Natalie Prosser (General Counsel)
- (REDACTED)
- DCMS Permanent Secretary,
- (REDACTED)
- DCMS Director of Sport, Gambling & Ceremonials (item 14 only)
Apologies:
- Sarah Gardner
1. Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest
Apologies were noted from Sarah Gardner.
There were no declarations of interest.
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2. Minutes, actions, forward look
The minutes of the meetings held on 17 September and 23 October 2020 were approved as accurate records of the meetings.
The actions log was reviewed.
The forward look was reviewed.
3. Finance report (including update on the annual report and accounts)
The Board noted the Finance report.
(REDACTED)
4. Finance & Performance Committee (F&PC): Chair’s report
The Board noted the F&PC assurance update.
(REDACTED)
5. Audit & Risk Committee (A&RC): Chair’s report
The Board noted the report.
(REDACTED)
6. National Lottery Competition Committee (NLCC): Chair’s report
The Board noted the report.
(REDACTED)
7. National Lottery Committee (NLC): Chair’s report
The Board noted the report
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8. Reset 2020: Chair’s report
The Board noted the report, key points highlighted as below:
- communicating with staff about actions taken by the Project Board and the continuing engagement of Commissioners remains a priority
- the Chair of Reset 2020 assured Board that the project plan will be delivered by April 2022.
9. Remuneration Committee (RemCo): Chair’s report
The Board noted the report.
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10. Plans for the Staff Survey
The Board noted the paper.
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11. Gambling Act Review (GAR)
The Board endorsed the proposed objectives described in paragraph 13 of the paper
The Board endorsed the proposed priorities as described in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the paper.
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The Board noted the key considerations for each topic as described in paragraph 16 of the paper.
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The Board endorsed the proposed next steps as described in paragraph 26 of the paper.
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12. Advice to Government on Research, Education & Treatment (RET)
The Board noted the paper.
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13. Update on DCMS issues
The Board noted the update paper.
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14. DCMS priorities and relationship engagement
The Chair welcomed the Director of Sport, Gambling & Ceremonials to the meeting, who thanked the Board for inviting him and the Permanent Secretary to the meeting, and briefly updated the Board on the Government’s progress and plans on the current Covid-19 situation.
The Chair welcomed the Permanent Secretary to the meeting. The Permanent Secretary thanked the Board for inviting her and gave an overview of the current position.
(REDACTED)
The Chair thanked the Permanent Secretary and Director of Sport. Gambling & Ceremonials for their time today and look forward to engaging with them at another Board session next year.
Action: Governance to schedule another Board session with DCMS for 2021.
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15. Participation and prevalence research consultation
The Board noted the paper.
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16. National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms – update and next steps
The Board noted the paper.
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17. Board Effectiveness Review (BER): conclusions and action plan
The Board noted the paper.
(REDACTED)
The Board approved the BER action plan as set out in Annexe A of the Board paper, which would be monitored through Remuneration Committee.
18. Stakeholder engagement
The Board noted the paper, key points highlighted as follows:
- in the year October 2019-2020 the Chair, Commissioners, CEO and senior Executives have held over 170 meetings with key stakeholders including the Secretary of State for DCMS and the Shadow DCMS Secretary
- (REDACTED)
Board members commented:
- the range of activity was noted, and the Board encouraged officials to report on the outcomes of interaction, including how this could be used to demonstrate tactical influence
- Commissioners would welcome more engagement with industry to facilitate more meaningful discussions at Board level
- Commissioners would also welcome activity to increase their visibility within the organisation as part of the Comms plan.
19. Corporate Strategy and Business Planning
The Board noted slide deck. A draft Corporate Strategy will be presented to the Board for further discussion in January 2021, with sign off in March 2021.
The Board endorsed the work done so far, and the plans for the coming months. They approved the clarification of the objective relating to the National Lottery (distinct from all lotteries).
20. Update on our response to external reports
The Board noted the paper.
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21. Fees Strand B
Workshop not minuted
22. Any Other Business
Review of the meeting:
- productive, and benefiting from the extra time
- the format of the fees workshop was exemplary
- one hour preferred for external speakers
- fewer, shorter papers preferred.
23. Chair’s objectives
Not minuted.
24. Below the line item: Board Performance Report Q2
The Board noted the report with no comments.