UK Gambling Commission to merge With National Lottery

4/1/10 - The UK government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced that it will deliver GBP 60 million of efficiency savings, as a departmental contribution towards GBP 11 billion of national savings that are being demanded by the Cabinet. And part of the cost-cutting is the merging of the National Lottery Commission with regulator the Gambling Commission.

Chancellor Alistair Darling's 2010 national budget reaffirmed the British government’s commitment to making GBP 11 billion of savings annually by 2012/13 from efficiency and streamlining government oprations. The savings have been calculated following the work of the Operational Efficiency Programme and Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government reviews.

A DCMS statement said that the department will meet its target while protecting services and facilities enjoyed by the public.

In the detail of how it will achieve this, the DCMS specified that it would secure savings of GBP 10 millon through rationalising and restructuring its arms length bodies. This will include merging the British Film Institute and the UK Film Council, and the National Lottery Commission and the Gambling Commission, subject to the necessary consultation, with a further cut of GBP 15 million through increasing collaborative procurement across all its NDPBs; and a saving of GBP 35 million from meeting the department’s share of reductions in other savings on back office spending, reducing consultancy and reducing marketing and communications spending across its arms length bodies.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Ben Bradshaw said: “The government has made it clear that operational efficiencies and smarter government savings need to be found right across the public sector. We are protecting frontline services and targeting administration costs and back office functions. This will mean our sectors can continue to deliver the fantastic range and quality of media, culture and sport that the public value.”

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