Dear Mr Collins

Thank you for your below request for information which we are processing as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We aim to deal with all requests promptly and in any event, no later than 20 working days in line with the statutory requirement. In this case 24/06/2019

If you have any queries about this email, please contact us.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Team

GAMBLING COMMISSION
4th Floor
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP
Tel: 0121 230 6666
www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Cairns

On 25 May 2019 you submitted a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). You asked for:

Any communications comprising letters, e-mails, or minutes of meetings involving the Gambling Commission and Betfred since January 2016

Your request is very wide; you are asking for all communications and documentation between the Commission and a significant operator over a three year period. As you have not specified any further criteria, we can only search our systems for the phrase ‘Betfred’ from January 2016. Our search reveals that there are 11,132 documents, 55,896 emails and 33,903 other items that meet this search term. Please see attached document which provides evidence of this.

We have also tried searching for a much smaller date range than you asked for (first three months of 2018) as an example. This search produced 828 documents, 4911 emails and 2790 other items. Please see attached document which provides evidence of this,

Section 12 of the FOIA makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We estimate that we could process searches that result in around 108 items within the statutory timeframe. We have worked this out as 10 minutes per item to locate and retrieve each item. As you can see, even when searching on a 3 month period the number of results significantly exceeds this when we use a search term as vague as ‘Betfred’.

For us to be able to process your request you will need to be much more specific in terms of what it is that you are looking for.

Until we are able to process your request within the statutory time limit, we are unable to ascertain if other exemptions will apply to the material retrieved which would also prevent it from disclosure.

Review of the decision

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Gambling Commission. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team

GAMBLING COMMISSION
4th Floor
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP
Tel: 0121 230 6666
www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please return it to the address it came from indicating that you are not the intended recipient and delete it from your system. Do not copy, distribute or take action based on this email. Freedom of Information requests can be submitted either by email ([email address]) or by writing to: FOI request Gambling Commission Victoria Square House Victoria Square Birmingham B2 4BP Please clearly state that your request is under the Freedom of Information Act.

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your request for information which we are processing as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We aim to deal with all requests promptly and in any event, no later than 20 working days in line with the statutory requirement. In this case 21/10/2019

If you have any queries about this email, please contact us.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Team

GAMBLING COMMISSION
4th Floor
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP
Tel: 0121 230 6666
www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please return it to the address it came from indicating that you are not the intended recipient and delete it from your system. Do not copy, distribute or take action based on this email. Freedom of Information requests can be submitted either by email ([email address]) or by writing to: FOI request Gambling Commission Victoria Square House Victoria Square Birmingham B2 4BP Please clearly state that your request is under the Freedom of Information Act.

Dear Mr Cairns

Your request includes in the search criteria the name of an individual (Mr Andrew Green or Andy Green). This means that by implication every record that we identify will contain the personal information of that individual. Because your request is only for records that contain personal information of that individual, we are of the view that your entire request would contravene the data protection principles set out in the Data Protection Act 2018. We are therefore of the view that all of the results of your request would be exempt under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) (FOIA) section 40(2): someone else's personal data.

We note that you have submitted your request using an anonymising service (whatdotheyknow.com). If you are indeed Mr Andrew Green then the request would be exempt from disclosure under the FOIA section 40(1): requestor's own personal data. Where the request is exempt under section 40(1) we must process the request using the Data Protection Act 2018 as a Subject Access Request (SAR) and not using FOIA legislation.

In summary, if you are not Mr Andrew Green we are not able to continue with your request. If you are Mr Andrew Green and are able to prove your identity, then we will process your request as a Subject Access Request.

Please see attached our policy on processing SARs. Suitable forms of identity are scanned copies of either a driving licence or passport. Your FOIA request has been closed; we will hold a SAR open in anticipation of receiving appropriate id documentation from you.

Regards

FOI & DPA Team
Gambling Commission
This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please return it to the address it came from indicating that you are not the intended recipient and delete it from your system. Do not copy, distribute or take action based on this email. Freedom of Information requests can be submitted either by email ([email address]) or by writing to: FOI request Gambling Commission Victoria Square House Victoria Square Birmingham B2 4BP Please clearly state that your request is under the Freedom of Information Act.