20 January 2022 - Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners
Location: via Microsoft Teams
Commissioners:
- Marcus Boyle (Chair)
- Terry Babbs
- John Baillie
- Carol Brady
- Stephen Cohen
- Trevor Pearce
- Catharine Seddon
Executive team:
- Andrew Rhodes (CEO)
- Sarah Gardner (DCEO)
- Charlotte Leonard (interim COO)
- Tim Miller (items 1 to 3 only)
- Nadine Pemberton (Legal)
- John Tanner
- Helen Venn
- Vin Wijeratne (interim CFO)
Other participants:
- (REDACTED) (Board Secretary)
- (REDACTED) (notes)
- (REDACTED) (item 3 only)
- (REDACTED) (item 3 only)
- (REDACTED) (item 16 only)
Apologies: (REDACTED), (REDACTED)
1. Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest
The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting.
The Chair gave his brief reflections on the Sprints workshop that took place yesterday. He expressed pride at what the team had achieved so far and praised the quality of the thinking presented.
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Apologies were noted from Brian Bannister and Jo Hill.
The interim CFO raised a new declaration of interest; he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Facilities by ADF plc on 20 December 2021. ADF provides production and support vehicles for the TV and film industries.
2. Minutes, Actions and Forward Look
The minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2021 were agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
3. Gambling Act Review (GAR)
The Board noted the slide deck.
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Officials will keep the Board updated on the progress of the Review.
4. CEO’s report
The CEO outlined key issues for the board to note.
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5. Chair’s report
The Chair outlined key issues for the board to note.
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6. Compliance and enforcement: revised strategy update
The Board noted the slide deck.
(REDACTED)
The Board agreed the approach as outlined in the slide deck.
7. Diversity and inclusion: Board engagement
The Board noted the paper.
There has already been some particularly good work done on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) by Reset and the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) group so far and this is a further step forward.
The Board request a quarterly update on ED&I. They encouraged the Gambling Commission (GC) to secure any external support required to make early progress as fast as possible.
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The Board approved the appointment of Jo Hill and Stephen Cohen to co-sponsor diversity and inclusion.
8. Business plan: strategic priorities
The Board noted the plan.
The paper provides an early check in on work in progress, with the final draft going to the FPC on 1 March 2022 before approval by Board on 24 March 2022.
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9. Finance report
The Board noted the report.
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10. Items for Board approval
Board resolution: the Board approved the proposed delegation of signatories as set out in the resolution, to sign off any documents relating to the operation of the Commission’s bank accounts.
Update to the Corporate Governance Framework – Appendix 6 Delegation of Licensing and Regulatory Decisions: the Board approved a change to Appendix 6 of the Delegation of Licensing and Regulatory Decisions to allow Regulatory Caseworkers and above to determine and grant applications where the new controller is the holder of an operating license, or is a financial institution (as defined by article 4.5 of the Banking Consolidation Directive (a)) regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, or which has its registered office in an EEA state and which is regulated by its home state regulator.
11. (REDACTED)
12. Committee assurance reports
Remuneration and Nomination Committee: Chair’s report: there were no comments on the report or questions from Commissioners.
13. 4th National Lottery Competition update briefing
The Board noted the 4NLC programme dashboard.
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14. Any other business
Review of the meeting: the Board were of the view that meetings held since September 2021 have been much more focused than previously, and there has been a real improvement in quality and content of papers, both of which are welcomed.
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The next full Board meeting will take place on 24 March 2022.