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24 May 2018 - Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners

Commissioners:

  • John Baillie
  • Carol Brady
  • Alison Hastings
  • Bill Moyes (Chair)
  • Trevor Pearce
  • Simone Pennie
  • Jonathan Scott
  • Catharine Seddon

Executive directors:

  • Sarah Gardner
  • Neil McArthur (CEO)
  • Tim Miller
  • David Pemberton
  • Helen Venn (Interim)

In attendance:

  • (REDACTED) – Governance Manager (notes)
  • Simon Knee – Head of Finance (item 2)
  • Tamsin Morgan – Head of Communications (item 2)
  • Helen Rhodes – Programme Director (item 5)
  • Oliver Sweeney – Head of Legal

Apologies:

  • Stephen Cohen
  • James Mackay
  • Richard Watson (Interim Exec Director)
  • Sarika Patel

Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

There were no new declarations of interest.

The Chair provided an update following the roundtable event that had taken place at the Scottish Parliament on 23 May 2018. The event was attended by local councillors and Members of the Scottish Parliament and was well received.

The Board discussed the environmental and public health implications of Local Authorities effectively managing licensing. The importance of empowering Local Authorities to utilise their powers to refuse licensing applications was discussed.

Item 1: Minutes and actions from the meeting on 19 April 2018

Minutes of the meeting on 19 April 2018 were agreed.

The rolling actions were reviewed and updated.

Item 2: Draft Annual Report

The Head of Communications presented the draft annual report.

The Head of Finance provided a status update on the Annual Accounts.

The Board commented that it was beneficial to see the draft annual report in a more complete format at an earlier stage.

The Board discussed the depreciation rates recorded in the Annual Accounts and the necessity of replacing equipment at the end of an item’s usefulness. Appropriate forward planning should be included in the budget to facilitate this.

The Board agreed the draft annual report subject to some amendments.

The Chair advised the Board that they should provide any further updates or comments to Tamsin Morgan by 28 May 2018.

Item 3: National Lottery 4th Licence Competition Committee Terms of Reference

The Head of Legal presented the updated National Lottery 4th Licence Competition Committee (NL4CC) Terms of Reference. An overview of the amendments made following the presentation of the Terms of Reference at the Board meeting 19 April 2018 was provided.

The Board agreed the Terms of Reference subject to some amendments.

The Board agreed that attendance at the NL4CC of the Chair and Chief Executive must be reported to Board.

The Board agreed that the membership of the NL4CC will be confirmed by 1 August 2018.

Action: Updates to the NL4CC Terms of Reference to be made and then agreed with the Board by correspondence.

Item 4: National Lottery 3rd Licence update

Sarah Gardner provided an update on the National Lottery 3rd Licence. A meeting is being arranged between Neil McArthur and (REDACTED) to discuss the Marketing Investment Proposal (MIP).

The Board agreed that the MIP will be agreed before the autumn 2018.

Action: Camelot’s newly appointed Chair and SID to be invited to attend a Board Meeting for a discussion within the first 100 days of starting their roles.

Item 5: Safer Gambling

The Programme Director presented an update on Safer Gambling work. Three main areas of focus were outlined:

  • the delivery of the successor to the National Responsible Gambling Strategy
  • the move away from the use of tripartite terminology through bringing a wider range of bodies into RET delivery
  • the identification of participant organisations including driving increased industry participation in delivery of any RET strategy.

The Board was informed that the Government Gambling Review identifies the relationship between gambling and public Health. The identification of this connection is supportive of the proposed approach to Research Education and Treatment.

Tim Miller reported that Chris Kelly’s second term as RGSB Chair comes to an end in 2019 and a new Chair will be appointed. The new Chair will undergo a 6 month handover period to enable them to contribute to the new strategy.

The Board agreed the following principles:

  • the new strategy will be overseen by the Commission
  • the Commission will provide direction on how measures identified in the strategy will be implemented and the Commission’s powers utilised to support the delivery of the strategy
  • the Commission is not accepting additional risk by pursuing a more active role in the delivery of the gambling strategy as the Commission will be afforded greater control
  • the Commission will partner with other agencies to facilitate the development of a research centre to ensure that suggestions of bias from the industry are mitigated
  • responsible organisations including GambleAware will commission gambling addiction treatment.

The Programme Director assured the Board that a robust monitoring system for funds from regulatory settlements would be implemented with a focus of investment in high impact projects.

Action: Report to return to Board identifying how the funds from regulatory settlements are utilised.

Item 6: Audit Committee Update

Catharine Seddon presented the Audit Committee Update. The resource implications following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25 May 2018 will be considered at the Audit and Risk Committee meeting 21 June 2018.

Item 7: Board forward look

Neil McArthur presented the Board Forward Look which has been reviewed by the Operations Group and aligned to the Business Plan Milestones.

The Board agreed that the format of the document has improved.

David Pemberton provided a status update on the Digital Panel ahead of the Digital Board Workshop on 27 June 2018. The first meeting of the Digital Panel had taken place. The panel brings a diverse range of experience and will work with teams, for example to establish how data can promote safer gambling. The agenda for the discussion on 27 June 2018 would be established by David Pemberton and the Programme Director.

Item 8: Review of the meeting

The Board commented that it would have been valuable for a stakeholder event to have taken place the evening prior to the Edinburgh Board meeting in addition to the roundtable event that took place at the Scottish Parliament, which was attended by some Commissioners and Executives.

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