Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2021 to Question 88799, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the Gambling Commission investigating a total of eight deaths by suicide where gambling may have been a factor since the start of 2018, in the context of Public Health England's September 2021 estimate that there are 409 gambling-related suicides a year; and in relation to those eight investigations, how many times the Commission reported the findings of its investigation to the coroner conducting the inquest into each death.

The Government does not collect statistics on suicides where gambling may have been a factor, although Public Health England’s evidence review estimated on the basis of two overseas studies that there may be 409 such deaths each year. The Department of Health and Social Care is working to improve data collection and address other evidence gaps identified in the report.

Operators who are aware of a death by suicide which may be linked to their gambling facilities are expected to notify the Gambling Commission so that it can investigate whether there has been a breach of social responsibility codes and take action where appropriate. Coroners’ jurisdiction does not extend to determining the underlying reasons for a person’s death, and the Commission does not routinely notify them of its findings. However, it has assisted a coroner in making their overall findings on the circumstances of an individual’s death in two cases since the beginning of 2018. The Commission co-operates with coroner inquiries whenever they are made, usually by providing information about the regulation of the gambling industry.