Gambling industry charity GambleAware has confirmed the appointment of Peter Holt as its new chief financial officer, who will work towards developing GambleAware’s long-term business strategy.

Holt, who previously held the position of London and South East finance director at Health Education England, will be responsible for the allocation of the charity’s £1.2bn budget. 

In his new role, Holt will work towards supporting the ongoing commissioning of the National Gambling Treatment Service, triaged by the National Gambling Helpline, as part of the charity’s long-term business development plan.

Commenting on the new appointment, GambleAware chief executive, Marc Etches, said: “We are delighted to have Peter join GambleAware. His extensive health-related experience will further enhance the outstanding expertise we have across our growing organisation as we focus on a public health model to commission national prevention and treatment services to keep people safe from gambling harms.”

Holt’s role at the HEE involved the development of a financial strategy to ensure long term financial health, enabling HEE to continue its investment into workforce planning and the education and training of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. 

He also played a role in the development of a new national education tariff, both regionally and nationally, sitting on the Department of Health national tariff board.

During his time with the DoH, Holt was director of the Supply Chain Transformation Programme, which ensured that significant procurement benefits were delivered to the NHS.

Holt’s time with the NHS and the DoH is hoped to complement the experiences of GambleAware’s trustees and management with regard to public health, the NHS and the commissioning of prevention and treatment services.

Holt’s background also supports the charity’s ongoing relationship with the NHS and other statutory health bodies to ensure gambling is regarded as an important health and wellbeing issue.

This relationship is underscored in the recently published NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan, 2019-24 by the recognition of GambleAware as a key partner for NHS England and NHS Improvement in establishing a total of 15 new NHS specialist problem gambling clinics by 2023/24.