FOI: UKGC Held No Meetings With Public Health England in 2021
Data reveals zero recorded meetings with PHE in a nine-month period, followed by six meetings with its successor, OHID, over 17 months.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed the UK Gambling Commission held no recorded meetings with Public Health England during a nine-month period in 2021. The data also shows six meetings were held with its successor, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, over the following 17 months, raising questions about the level of collaboration between the regulator and key health bodies.
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A Freedom of Information (FOI) disclosure has revealed that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) held no recorded meetings with Public Health England (PHE) in the nine months leading up to the health body's dissolution.
The data, released following a request dated 23 March 2023, also shows that the regulator held a total of six meetings with PHE's successor, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), over the subsequent 17-month period.
Context: A Public Health Approach
The UKGC has increasingly emphasised a "public health approach" to reducing gambling harms, which involves collaboration with health organisations to understand and prevent negative outcomes. This data provides a measure of the frequency of engagement between the gambling regulator and the government's lead public health bodies in England.
For consumers, this collaboration is crucial as it ensures that regulatory policies are informed by expert health advice, with the goal of creating a safer gambling environment and providing effective support for those at risk.
Breakdown of the Data
The FOI request asked for the dates of all meetings between the UKGC and two key health bodies over a 27-month period.
Public Health England (PHE)
- Period Requested: 1 January 2021 – 30 September 2021
- UKGC Response: "We do not have records of any meetings with Public Health England."
This confirms that for the final nine months of its existence, there were no formal meetings recorded between the gambling regulator and the primary public health agency in England.
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)
- Period Requested: 1 October 2021 – 23 March 2023
- UKGC Response: Six meetings were held on the following dates:
- 16 February 2022
- 26 April 2022
- 24 August 2022
- 6 December 2022
- 8 December 2022
- 22 February 2023
OHID was established on 1 October 2021. The data shows the first recorded meeting with the UKGC took place over four months later, on 16 February 2022. The meetings occurred at a rate of approximately one every three months during the period for which data is available.
Significance for Regulation
The disclosed information provides a factual record of the level of formal engagement between the UK's gambling and public health authorities. While the UKGC's stated strategy is to treat gambling harm as a public health issue, the frequency of meetings detailed in the FOI response raises questions about the operational tempo of this collaboration.
For consumers and campaigners, the data offers a transparent look at the interactions that underpin regulatory policy. The limited number of meetings may suggest that the integration of public health expertise into gambling regulation is not as frequent or consistent as might be expected under a public health-led model.