25 March 2021 - Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Commissioners
Location: Virtual meeting by Microsoft Teams
Commissioners:
- Bill Moyes (Chair)
- Terry Babbs
- John Baillie
- Carol Brady
- Stephen Cohen
- Jo Hill
- Trevor Pearce
- Catharine Seddon
In attendance:
- Sarah Gardner (joint acting CEO)
- Sally Jones (joint acting CEO)
- Tim Miller
- John Tanner
- Helen Venn
- Richard Watson
- (REDACTED) (Board Secretary)
- (REDACTED) (Legal) (up to item 8 only)
- (REDACTED) (notes)
- (REDACTED) (interim Director of Legal) plus attendees for specific items as listed below
- (REDACTED) Chair Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG)
- (REDACTED) Chair Digital Advisory Panel (DAP)
- (REDACTED) Chair Lived Experience Advisory Panel) (items 1-6)
- (REDACTED) (Chair)
- (REDACTED) (Chief Executive) Betting and Gaming Council (item 9)
Apologies: None
1. Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest
There were no apologies.
The Chair welcomed the new interim Director of Legal to the meeting and also the Chair of the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP), both attending Board for the first time.
There were no declarations of interest.
2. Minutes, actions, forward look
The minutes of the meetings held on 21 January and 25 February 2021 were approved as true and accurate records of the meetings.
The Board noted the actions log, and that (REDACTED) would be invited to attend the June Board meeting, with the Minister being invited later in the year.
3. Customer interaction update
The Board noted the paper.
(REDACTED)
4. Gambling Act Review update
The Board noted the paper.
(REDACTED)
5. Corporate Strategy development
Revised Corporate Strategy: the Board noted the paper.
(REDACTED)
6. Regulatory Panel reform: consultation response
The Board noted the paper.
(REDACTED)
7. Latest lockdown: impact on the Gambling Commission
The Board noted the paper, key points as follows:
- the impact on the organisation is being regularly assessed and work prioritised
- there is a general feeling of lockdown fatigue
- wellbeing messages to colleagues continue to be reinforced and comms with colleagues is very clear on working to reprioritise where necessary
- another survey will be sent out at the end of April 2021 to gauge colleagues’ preferences for office and home working
- officials are being cautiously optimistic on the end of lockdown 21 June 2021 date; from June officials should have a better idea of what a phased return to work will look like; the office is well set up for this but recognising there will be no hot desking post June 2021 and there is likely to be more home working.
8. BetIndex update
The Board noted the update.
(REDACTED)
9. Raising standards: view from industry
The Chair welcomed the Chair and CEO of BGC to the meeting and thanked them for joining.
The Chair and CEO of BGC presented a short slide presentation (later circulated to Board members) on BGC.
(REDACTED)
10. Stakeholder relations
The Board noted the paper, key points as follows:
- despite the ongoing challenges of Covid-19 the Commission has engaged consistently and constructively with stakeholders
- engagement continues to be built with industry with the focus on raising standards
- the themes in recent engagement have been as the customer interaction consultation, fees, effect of Covid-19 on operators and consumers and a growing interest in 4NLC
- CEO calls with trade associations will decrease in frequency with regular engagement being at an operational level.
11. Business plan and budget, 2021-2022
Finance and Performance Committee (FPC) assurance report: the Board noted the Report.
(REDACTED)
12. Finance report
The Board noted the report.
(REDACTED)
13. Corporate Governance Framework (CGF) and Framework Agreement (FA)
The Board noted the paper, key points as follows:
- Commission comments on the FA template have been sent to the DCMS Public Bodies Team and we await their response.
The Board approved the proposed amendments to the following appendices:
- CGF Appendix 2: Rules for the Conduct of Business – minor changes to reflect current practice
- CGF Appendix 4: Public Interest disclosure policy – to include provision to commission external investigations, to include reference to the grievance policy, to update contacts and role titles throughout, to clarify language, the appeal process and reference to disclosures to other bodies in line with legal advice
- CGF Appendix 6: Delegation of licensing and regulatory decisions – to update role titles throughout.
14. Audit and Risk Committee (ARC): Chair’s report
The Board noted the report.
(REDACTED)
15. Remuneration Committee (RemCo): Chair’s report
The Board noted the report.
(REDACTED)
16. Reset: Chair’s report
The Board noted the report, key points as follows:
- the report covers the January 2021 meeting, Rest also met on 22 March 2021
- excellent progress has been made since January and all three Commissioners on the Project Board were very impressed with internal comms and the very helpful diagnostics mapped from the HR Lounge report recommendations
- cultural change is embedded within all of the twelve workstreams that make up the project.
17. National Lottery Committee: Chair’s report
The Board noted the report with no comments.
18. National Lottery Competition Committee: Chair’s report and SRO update
The Board noted the report.
(REDACTED)
19. Any Other Business
There was no other business.
20. Commissioners and Joint Acting CEOs only – private session
Not minuted.