E-bulletin November 2011 |
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Welcome to this edition of the e-bulletin from the Responsible Gambling Fund (RGF) and the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB). We welcome your feedback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
In this edition
RGSB Strategy 2011
Research, Education and Treatment programmes aimed at tackling gambling-related harm must be based firmly on work already done says the third annual strategy of the RGSB published earlier this month. A great deal more work also needs to be done the report says, so that the government, the Gambling Commission as regulator, other policy makers and those who provide treatment services can make informed judgements about what is likely to be effective - and what is not. Read the Strategy here.
Machines 1 Research Study published The RGF-funded study into the location and distribution of gambling machines published this month, found that the poorest areas in the UK - those with populations that are on average, younger, lower income, more economically inactive - are more likely to have the highest density of gambling machines.
Download the full report here.
GP Training project The Royal College of GPs project advisory group will meet in December to consider the content for the e-learning course component of the RGF-funded GP training programme. Trevor David of GamCare and Edward Burton, a GP at Caistor Health Centre in Lincolnshire, are developing the e-learning and face-to-face elements of the training scheme.
The project's aim is to make GPs more aware of problem gambling and help them to spot and refer on problem gamblers. It is due to go 'live' from April 2012.
Read more here.
GRaHM Pilot updatesWest Midlands The RGF-funded Gambling Risk and Harm Minimisation (GRaHM) pilot run by Aquarius in the West Midlands has been hard at work promoting the service to frontline organisations across Birmingham and Solihull. Statutory and voluntary bodies have benefitted from 15 half-day workshops. Training workshops have also been run for the probation service and Youth Offending Teams, and the pilot has made links with local voluntary sector bodies such as Women's Aid and the Birmingham Chinese Mental Health Project.
December will see the Aquarius Gambling Awareness Week aimed at raising the service's profile internally and using the opportunity to screen all new referrals using its own short gambling screening tool. The pilot has a major awareness raising event aimed at the wider community planned for February 2012. With 20 referrals for brief interventions so far, the pilot aims to double this in the first quarter of next year.
South Wales As part of the preparatory work to establish a GRaHM pilot in South Wales, the Addiction Recovery Agency (ARA) has been busy making contact with over 170 agencies from Swansea to Newport and in the Valleys. As a result, ARA is moving forward with new partnership arrangements across the region with local voluntary and statutory bodies to develop new services for problem gamblers. The services which ARA will oversee will include awareness training for professionals as well as prevention and brief intervention work.
More information on RGF's GRaHM Pilots is here.
National Occupational Standards - consultation RGF and Skills for Justice (www.skillsforjustice.com) have launched a public consultation on the content of the draft National Occupational Standards (NOS) and you are invited to contribute to the consultation by coming to our workshops and by filling in our on-line questionnaire. The questionnaire will run until the 16th December 2011.
Read more here.
Read the NOS FAQs here.
Preventing Gambling-Related Harm in Higher Education A year calendar and self-assessment quiz, posters, stickers and case studies being developed by Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire will be piloted in December and January. The new materials will then be modified and distributed via the Healthy Universities Network and then evaluated in February and March next year. The project is part of a RGF-funded initiative to prevent or minimise gambling-related harm in higher education.
Read more here.
Scottish Youth Parliament Health & Wellbeing Committee Young people north of the border have taken an important step in trying to influence the way policy on how problem gambling affects them is developed. At the Scottish Youth Parliament's national sitting in North Ayrshire at the end of October, the Health & Wellbeing Committee adopted a formal policy recognising "that problem gambling amongst young people is an issue in Scotland and supports those working with young people to tackle the problem". The move follows discussions with RGF earlier this year.
Read more here.
Research Panel Elliot Stern's fixed term as a member of RGSB's Research Panel has expired. However, Elliot, from the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, has been invited to the pool of experts on whom the panel can call from time-to-time.
Farewell to Jim Fearnley RGF and RGSB say farewell to Jim Fearnley, our Head of Policy and Research who has now left us. The trustees and staff would like to thank Jim for all his hard work and dedication in the time he has been with us and to wish him well for the future.
Timeline A Timeline showing milestones in the development of RGF and RGSB since 2009 is available online. View the Timeline here.
About RGSB and RGF RGSB is the national authoritative voice on gambling-related harm issues, and was set up in late 2008 to advise the Gambling Commission on a national responsible gambling strategy. RGF is a charity that was set up in June 2009 to provide support for research, educational and treatment services across the gambling field. It distributes funds for gambling research, education and treatment. |