To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications have been received by the Gambling Commission for remote operating licences under the Gambling Act 2005. (134843)

At 27 April, the Gambling Commission had received and classified 95 remote operating licence applications.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assumptions her Department has made in calculating the Gambling Commission's forecast cost and revenues on the number of remote operating licence applications it expects to be made under the Gambling Act 2005. (134844)

In line with HM Treasury Fees and Charges Guide, the costs of the Gambling Commission undertaking its regulatory activities would include the full direct and allocated costs (including depreciation) of the regulatory and licensing regime allocated appropriately to avoid any cross-subsidisation between categories and types of fees and all costs of enforcement.

Estimates of costs and revenues were generated from the Commission's independently created model which reflected the assumptions used to establish the Commission's initial budget based on the limited information available at that time. These assumptions will be kept under review in the light of actual experience of the operation of the new regulatory and licensing regime.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assumptions her Department has made on the number of applications for remote operating licences under the Gambling Act 2005 that will be made before 1 September. (134845)

Based on the information available and set out in the consultation document on Gambling Commission fees published in July 2006, the Commission estimated that the average number of operators in each type and category of licensable activity requiring a remote operating licence from 1 September 2007 was 57.

At 27 April 2007, the Gambling Commission had received and classified 95 remote operating licence applications including a larger than expected number of applications for licences from telephone betting operators.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department plans to take to strengthen its use of evidence to inform policy making as recommended in its Capability Review; and what assessment has been made of the use of evidence in developing the regulatory order to implement the Gambling Act 2005. (134853)

The Department’s plan for responding to the Capability Review is outlined in the Permanent Secretary’s response to the Capability Review (pages 5-8) and in “Transforming DCMS”, the transformation action plan. Both are published on the DCMS website:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Publications/

Implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 is based on evidence, including that generated by extensive consultation with stakeholders on a wide range of issues.