Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to (1) increase awareness, and (2) introduce training, for (a) police, (b) probation, and (c) prison, staff on the issues faced by individuals who commit crime due to gambling-related harms.

HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to increasing awareness of the hidden harms of problem gambling and training our prison and probation officers. This equips them with the skills and confidence to help identify, support and signpost individuals into the most appropriate interventions both in custody and on release.

The activities and training services available to improve staff awareness regarding gambling related harms are detailed below.

Within the Probation Service, practitioners have access to an evidence based effective practice resource which was published in 2021. This provides a summary of key evidence, including the harms caused by gambling, signs that gambling is causing a problem, ideas on how to work with individuals who gamble and reflective questions to support practice discussions.

To increase awareness, the launch of this guidance was supported by an online event in November 2021 to understand more about the prevalence and effects of gambling in criminal justice and look at how prison and probation services can respond. The recording of the event remains available for staff to access. The event involved speakers from the Prisoner Education tTrust, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Epic Restart Foundation and Gam Care along with colleagues from within HMPPS.

Further work is currently underway to create a package of materials for probation staff to use with this specific cohort. This is expected to be available from October 2022. I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to HL1110 for further information.

HMPPS has an online learning platform which hosts a variety of training that all prison and probation staff can access. On this platform there is a package called ‘Problem Gambling: Prevalence and Practice’ where the aim is for the learner to gain an understanding about the occurrence and effects of gambling in the criminal justice system.

The police also offer a six-hour training course "on understanding and spotting early signs of gambling addictions", which was launched in September 2021 and is available to all police officers.