Dear Member

COVID-19 UPDATE

Track and Trace (England)/Test and Protect (Scotland)

I had hoped to provide members with more information on Track and Trace today – NHS guidance is now not going to be published until later this evening.  I will circulate it tomorrow.

A lot of members have been asking about T&T&P today.  Here are a few Q+As that have cropped up:

• what information needs to be captured?  We don’t know for certain but at a minimum a contact telephone number would seem sensible to allow the Track and Trace team to contact someone.  Hopefully the NHS guidance will clarify this point
• what about data protection?  Again matters aren’t entirely clear but the Information Commissioner has said

• • only ask customers for what is needed
  • be transparent with customers
  • be careful with the data
  • don’ use it for other purposes
  • erase it line with government guidance

• what if someone refuses to give any details?  The scheme is voluntary.  If they refuse to give details you don’t have to refuse them entry to your venue.
• can I use a visitor book?  Yes if that works for you, but remember that use of a pen by multiple customers presents a transmission risk so should be cleaned after use or disposed of.
• can I use a third party app?  Yes.  They will take care of the data management and data protection issues.
• is Test and Protect in Scotland different to Track and Trace.  It shouldn’t be but we are lacking details to be able to confirm.

A number of track and trace products have been sent to me during the course of the day.   I can provide details of them,  but I would like to point members towards the one produced by bacta members, Rotunda, with whom we have agreed a bacta member discounted.  The system works by asking customers to simply text a key word to a virtual number.  They get a thank you and the contact is stored for 21 days.  The bacta price comes in at £25 per month per venue.  Additional venues are charged at £15 per month. In addition there is a 5p per text charge reducing to 4p after July.  There is no set up charge and notice is one month.  Please contact Jordan Godden on 07967 162522 for more details or your Playsafe representative if you are a customer of theirs.

Re-Opening

• In Scotland we have had disappointing news that the Scottish Government doesn’t see arcades opening before the 23rd July.  We are pushing back on this as earlier indications we were given pointed to the 15th as part of the tourism sector.  I have written separately to Scottish members enlisting their support in the on-going campaign.  The next official update is the 9th July.  Bacta’s guidance and risk assessment document has now update for Scottish members.
• In Wales there is no indication at all about when arcades can open.  Tourism businesses have been given a heads up for mid-July but no mention of arcades has been made.  Indoor attractions are looking as though they will be after this.  The next update is also on 9th July.
• In England all is set for Saturday – although I STILL have not had a formal sign off on version 4.0 of our guidance sent to you yesterday.

Other News

As mentioned yesterday the House of Lords published today its long-awaited Report into the Gambling Industry.  You may recall that bacta appeared before the committee towards the back end of last year and I am pleased to say our evidence seems to have landed well with the Committee.  It makes a lot of recommendations about the on-line sector but for us there were a few key points to note:

• as we asked there is a recommendation Government returns to a triennial review
• our view that if there is to be a mandatory levy then it must be ’smart’ was accepted
• we supported the idea of a gambling industry ombudsman
• the committee made no recommendation about Cat Ds, their assessment of the evidence coincided with bacta’s and their focus was loot boxes
• we were concerned to read that their Lordships thought that there should be an approval process for gaming machines which assessed their ‘safety’.  It is hard to see how this could possibly work and existing processes seem to be addressing concerns about certain features (which exist mainly on-line).  In fact bacta held the first meeting of its safer product design working group today.

Kind regards

John