Memorandum from the Gambling Industry
Charitable Trust (DGB 41)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Trustees have noted that one of
the themes on which the Committee expects to concentrate its inquiry
is "the Gambling Industry Charitable Trust—its funding,
role and independence, and the extent of existing research."
The evidence in this submission therefore focuses
on those matters.
2. THE TRUST'S
ROLE
2.1 The Trust was established in 2002, as
a registered charity, to carry out research to improve our understanding
of problem gambling, to provide public education about the risks
of gambling and to provide help for problem gamblers and their
dependents.
2.2 The Trustees appointed an international
team of independent experts led by Professor Collins of the University
of Salford to advise on the Trust's future strategy. Their report
(the Collins Report) was received in April 2003, and the Trustees
have now adopted a Strategy for their future activities, in the
light of that report. The Collins Report, and the Trust's published
Strategy, can be accessed on the Trust's website www.gict.org.uk.
That Report drew extensively upon existing research particularly
from abroad, about problem gambling, as listed in the Report's
extensive bibliography.
3. THE TRUST'S
FUNDING
3.1 The Government has stated that if the
Industry fails to raise £3 million per annum, when the new
legislation comes into force, to fund the Trust's work, it will
introduce a statutory levy. The Industry decided to move ahead
in advance of this timetable, and the Trust has already received
funds and commitments from the Industry totalling over £2
million. Discussions are in hand with the Industry about further
fundraising, the outcome of which will be reported to the Scrutiny
Committee as soon as possible. The Industry has told the Trust
that it will raise £3 million per annum when the new legislation
comes into force, and it agrees with the Budd Review Body that
the adequacy of this sum should be reviewed after three years.
3.2 The Trustees recognise that there is
a prospect that some of the government's proposals will lead to
an increase in problem gambling. There are conflicting views amongst
them about the likely size of any increase. All, however, are
clear that any substantial increase would mean that the Trust
would have to increase significantly its income to meet its declared
responsibilities. This would be a challenge for it.
4. THE TRUST'S
INDEPENDENCE
4.1 The six founding Trustees, including
the interim Chairman were drawn from the Industry, but three more
Trustees from outside the industry have now been appointed. (Professor
Jonathan Wolff, who was a member of the Budd Review Body, Mr Tom
Kavanagh, the Secretary of the Gaming Board, and Dr David Guy,
a senior manager with the Economic and Social Research Council.)
The Trustees have appointed Sir David Dune as their independent
Chairman from 1 January 2004. (He was previously Governor of Gibraltar,
Director General, Enterprise and the Regions, Department of Trade
and Industry, and Deputy Ambassador to the EU.) He will organise
the appointment of a further three independent Trustees, so that
there will then be a majority of non-industry Trustees.
4.2 The Trustees may then consider changing
the name of the Trust to reflect its independent nature. The administration
of the Trust is currently being organised by the British Casino
Association, but the Trustees intend to make independent administrative
arrangements in due course.
4.3 The Trustees have set up:
(a) a committee of independent Trustees to
make recommendations about the expenditure of Trust funds on support
for problem gamblers and public education about the risks of gambling,
and
(b) a Research Panel of Experts to make recommendations
about the expenditure of Trust funds on research to improve our
understanding of problem gambling.
5. SUPPORT SERVICES
FOR PROBLEM
GAMBLERS AND
THEIR DEPENDENTS
5.1 The Trust aims to provide the very best
support for those who experience problems with their gambling,
and also their dependents, and to meet all demand for such support.
5.2 The Trust's Strategy states that it
will normally spend a third of its available funds on support
services. However the Trustees attach high priority to meeting
the need for these services and has therefore allocated to them
more than a third of its available funds, at present.
5.3 The Trust is supporting GainCare in
the provision of these services. GainCare forecasts that it will
need to answer 22,350 helpline calls and provide 2,650 face to
face counselling sessions during the year from 1 July 2003. The
Trust has allocated to it £500,000 for this period, which
GainCare forecasts will be the cost of providing these services.
That represents a 91 per cent increase over the expenditure which
GainCare's Annual Report and Accounts for 2002-03 states that
it spent on these services in that year.
5.4 The Trust is also providing funding
to the Gordon House Association totalling £175,000 for the
year commencing 1 July 2003, to support its intensive residential
programme for about 90 severely addicted gamblers per annum and
also its outreach programme, which helps another 300 persons to
maintain recovery.
6. RESEARCH
6.1 Without robust and pertinent research
neither the Trust nor its partners can be sure of the best ways
of providing support and education.
6.2 The Trust's strategy states that it
will normally spend a third of its available funds on research.
6.3 The Trust commissioned three early pieces
of research:
(i) The Collins Report see para.2.3 above
and
(ii) A report on the opportunities for and
the implications of on-line counselling, and
(iii) A report on the cost of helpline and
counselling services from comparable organisations.
These reports cost in total c.£85,000.
6.4 The Trust has now established a Panel
of Experts to advise it on a research programme, and has made
a further allocation of £250,000, as initial funding. The
Panel is chaired by Dr David Guy from the Economic and Social
Research Council. Its other members are Professor David Miers,
past chairman of the Society for the Study of Gambling, Professor
Sarah Cowley, Professor of Community Practice Development at Kings
College London, Mr Alan Jamieson, Deputy Chief Executive of the
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and Ms
Geraldine Menuad-Lissenberg, the Transition Manager at the Gaming
Board, and Mr Elliot Grant from the Department for Culture Media
and Sport.
6.5 The Research Panel has awarded 2 PhD
scholarships in pursuance of the Trust's Strategy to develop the
capacity for research to be undertaken. One student will be investigating
the neuronal basis of problem gambling behaviour, using neuropsychology,
physiological monitoring and functional magnetic resonance imaging.
The other will be studying new technology and the implications
for problem gambling and its treatment.
6.6 The Research Panel has agreed that its
first priority should be to commission systematic reviews of research
worldwide on the subject areas relevant to the Trust's priorities,
with the aims of:
(i) ascertaining whether available research
already provides adequate answers, and
(ii) clarifying areas which need further
research, and
(iii) recommending priorities for, and the
detailed content of, such research. Tenders will soon be sought
to undertake this research.
6.7 The Trust would not expect to fund any
studies of the prevalence of problem gambling, since that necessary
work will be undertaken by the Gambling Commission. The Department
for Culture Media and Sport and the Gaming Board accept the Trust's
position on this matter.
7. EDUCATION
7.1 The Trust has an important role to play
in helping to educate vulnerable people about the risks of gambling
unwisely.
7.2 The Trust's Strategy states that it
will normally spend a third of its available funds in this area.
7.3 The Trust has allocated £150,000
to GainCare for the year from 1 July 2003 to support its education
services and a further £50,000 if that sum is not needed
to meet its Helpline costs. That together represents a 23 per
cent increase over GainCare's expenditure on education and training
in 2002-03, as stated in its Annual Report and Accounts for that
year.
7.4 These funds are used by GainCare to
run conferences, workshops and training sessions, to attend fairs
and exhibitions, and produce and circulate information, and operate
a website.
7.5 The Trust does not expect to fund any
expenditure necessary to meet the important obligations which
will be placed upon individual operators by the Gambling Commission
as a condition of their operator's licence. These are likely to
include staff training, and the display of literature about help
available to problem gamblers, self-exclusion programmes, and
steps to prevent children gaining access to gambling venues.
8. COST-EFFECTIVENESS
8.1 The Trust is committed to implementing
its Strategy to independently specified standards. It has specified
that the telephone helpline service should be operated to the
quality standards of the Telephone Helpline Association, and that
the counselling services, which it funds should operate in accordance
with the Guidelines of the British Association for Counselling
and Psychotherapy. The Trust has been advised that the services
provided by GainCare and the Gordon House Association are of good
quality.
8.2 The Trust is committed to implementing
its strategy in the most cost-effective way, and has arranged
for the delivery of the services being provided by GainCare and
the Gordon House Association, to be independently audited quarterly.
The outcome of the first quarter's audit report is set out below.
This audit evidence needs to be treated with considerable caution,
since it is not possible to track trends from one quarter's evidence.
Neither is it possible to see whether the quarter is typical.
9. AN AUDIT
OF PROGRESS
IN IMPLEMENTING
THE STRATEGY
9.1 The Trust's Strategy states that it
aims to meet the demand for helpline and counselling services.
To do so, the Trust needs reliable statistics on the volume and
trends of demand.
9.2 The Collins Report forecast a need (based
on 350,000 problem gamblers) to handle:
(i) 17,500 calls per annum to a helpline,
from problem gamblers, and a further 17,500 from dependents and
others seeking information, at an estimated cost of £210,000
and
(ii) 7,200 telephone or e-mail counselling
sessions of 50 minutes each, at an estimated cost of £210,000,
and
(iii) 9,000 face to face counselling sessions.
a year, at an estimated cost of £450,000,
(iv) limited residential support at an estimated
cost of £130,000.
9.3 GainCare forecasted a need to handle
22,500 helpline calls in the year from 1 July 2003, at a cost
of £250,000, but that includes both the helpline and telephone
counselling which they do not separate. The 1st quarter's audit
report shows that GainCare received calls at the rate of somewhere
between 15,836 per annum and 27,128 per annum, but they do not
know the actual number. However they answered calls at the rate
of 10,384 per annum, which is less than half their forecast rate.
9.4 Nobody knows whether the unanswered
calls were all new calls, or more likely, repeat calls, so there
is no reliable evidence of the current demand. GainCare has agreed
a target of answering 75 per cent; of the calls personally from
December onwards. The Trust will want to set a target of at least
90 per cent of calls being answered personally as soon as possible
thereafter, perhaps as part of the funding arrangements for 2004-05.
9.5 GainCare forecasted a need to provide
2,648 face to face counselling sessions in the year from 1 July
2003., at a cost of £250,000. In the 1st quarter, sessions
took place at the rate of 1,796 per annum (excluding sessions
cancelled and no shows). That is at 67 per cent of GainCare's
forecast rate.
9.6 The Trust is working with GainCare to
clarify the actual level of demand for helpline and counselling
services. It appears that at present the demand is not as high
as was forecast in the Collins Report, but there could be several
reasons for this. Firstly, the Trust has discouraged GainCare
from promoting its helpline services, until it is able personally
to answer a much higher proportion of existing callers. Secondly
the national network of locations for face to face counselling,
is not sufficiently comprehensive to provide a convenient location
for all of those seeking help. The Trust has investigated the
feasibility and implications of offering on-line counselling,
which could be an effective alternative way of providing counselling
services for some clients, but the Trust has deferred a decision
until the current helpline service is working more effectively.
9.7 The Trust's Strategy states that it
will seek to implement it in the most cost effective way.
9.8 The Collins Report forecast that the
average unit cost of helpline and telephone counselling would
be £10 per call. In the first quarter, the Trust's grant
for the helpline was equivalent to £13.44 per call personally
answered. The Collins Report forecast that the average cost of
a face to face counselling session would be £50. In the first
quarter, the Trust's grant for counselling services was equivalent
to £72 per session delivered.
9.9 GainCare has other sources of funds,
which it uses to supplement the Trust's grants so the actual unit
costs for its services may be higher than those quoted above.
However it is likely that these unit costs will drop as the volume
grows.
9.10 During the same quarter the Gordon
House Association achieved an 86 per cent occupancy rate of beds
for men (target 90 per cent) but only a 25 per cent occupancy
for women. It is revising its policy for supporting women, because
of the difficulty of coping with clients' children.
December 2003
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