Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the correlation between rates of problem gambling and levels of (a) acquisitive and (b) violent crime.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Rates of problem gambling have remained stable at around or below 1% of the adult population since 1999. The Government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December 2020 with the publication of a Call for Evidence. The Review will be wide-ranging and evidence-led, aiming to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age and will consider how effective the regulatory framework is in preventing gambling-related crime, alongside other outcome measures.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people suffering from a gambling disorder who have come into contact with the criminal justice system.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not hold information on individuals who come into contact with the police to ascertain whether a gambling disorder has been identified as a motivational factor in any alleged offences committed.
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the court system and their centrally-held data does not identify where gambling has been identified as a relevant motivational factor in offending. The information may be held on court records, however to identify such cases would require accessing individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing (a) per play limits, (b) daily deposit limits and (c) other affordability measures to reduce levels of offending among the problem gambling community.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
I have not undertaken an assessment. Rates of problem gambling have remained stable at around or below 1% of the adult population since 1999. The Government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December 2020 with the publication of a Call for Evidence. The Review will be wide-ranging and evidence-led, aiming to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age and will consider how effective the regulatory framework is in preventing gambling-related crime, alongside other outcome measures.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the General Register Office plans to introduce an officially-recognised digital version of death certificates.
Answered by Kevin Foster
There is currently no provision in law to issue a death certificate other than in a paper format.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) tackle human trafficking from sub-Saharan Africa and Libya and (b) educate and inform people about the resultant modern slavery.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Home Office is committed to tackling modern slavery and human trafficking internationally, and to raising awareness to help increase resilience against these crimes and prevent them from happening in the first place.
We work closely with the FCDO, who are working to protect those who are travelling on the dangerous migration route into Libya. As part of their current £70 million migration programme (2017-21), which works along the whole route from West Africa via the Sahel to Libya, they have allocated around £5 million to humanitarian assistance and protection for migrants and refugees in Libya, including targeted healthcare.
UK aid is also making those migrating aware of the dangers ahead and supporting them to return voluntarily. We are educating people before they decide to travel to Libya, informing them about the living conditions and the other risks they may face, such as falling into the hands of human traffickers.
As part of the Home Office’s Modern Slavery Fund, we are working globally including in sub-Saharan African countries, to tackle modern slavery and raise awareness about this crime:
In addition to these programmes, we continue to push for change on a global scale as part of our efforts to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking, by working with other countries and multilateral fora such as the G7, G20, Commonwealth and UN. We also work with partners to combat the criminal gangs who exploit and traffic people internationally.