Ms Carol Boate:

The role of the regulator is fourfold. First it is to manage and control the National Lottery Fund. Second, it is to consider the changes to schemes of national lottery games or new national lottery games, and certain other matters such as new suppliers, for approval and pre-approval so that they comply with the Act and the licence. The other part of the regulator's role is to monitor and enforce compliance with the licence. Finally, we also have a role in enforcing the trademarks of the national lottery. As part of the management and control of the National Lottery Fund we prepare the annual accounts for that fund every year and submit them to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit. Each year I am obliged to provide those audited accounts to the Minister and to accompany that with a report on the activities of the office. Included every year are any breaches that were found, details of the proactive compliance reviews that we conduct such as the capacity capability of the operator's IT systems to run the national lottery properly and to protect it in terms of cyber security. There is a particular aspect I must also describe in my annual report about the on-line player protection measures that are in place and how they are operating.

Every time I meet the Department they ask me if I need more powers. That is the standard question-----