Baillie and Seddon renewed as UKGC commissioners

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has extended the tenures of John Baillie and Catharine Seddon as commissioners of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for a further year. 

Baillie and Seddon have served on the UKGC board since 2016, having been appointed by former DCMS Secretary John Whittingdale under the cabinet of PM David Cameron.

A former partner of KPMG in Scotland and London, John Baillie is the former chair of Audit Scotland – Scotland’s independent body responsible for the auditing of public institutions.

Baillie also previously held the position of Governor of the ‘ICAS Foundation’, which sponsors young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue university degrees in accounting or finance.

Meanwhile, Seddon has 20 years of experience as an award-winning documentary filmmaker for the BBC and 13 years of NED experience with national regulators in four different government departments.

As a UKGC commissioner, Seddon sits on the fourth National Lottery Competition Committee, on the Remuneration Committee, and on the Commission’s change programme, RESET.

A cabinet reshuffle earlier this week saw John Whittingdale return to DCMS as sports undersecretary, replacing Nigel Huddleston as lead minister overseeing the government’s review of the 2005 Gambling Act.

The appointment drew criticism from anti-gambling campaigners, who believe Whittingdale was favourable towards the gambling sector during his previous tenure as DCMS secretary.

Further criticism was directed at the government for changing ministerial roles three months into conducting its review of UK Gambling laws, which was a campaign pledge of its 2019 General Election manifesto.