Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's consultation on the statutory levy on gambling operators, published on 17 October 2023, for what reason the proposed statutory levy rate for remote pools betting was set at 1%.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Higher rates of problem gambling are associated with certain products, particularly those online, compared to most land-based products. We want to take this into account in the design of the statutory levy, as well as the higher operating costs in the land-based sector. Public Health England’s evidence review of gambling-related harms, based on Health Survey data, showed football pools to have a 'problem gambling' rate of 5%, which is higher than the population level which has been at or below 1% for the past 20 years.
The consultation on the design of the statutory levy opened on 17 October and has now closed. Our consultation specifically invited views on the question of levy rates so that the Government has the best available evidence to inform our final policy decisions on the structure of the levy. The Government is carefully considering the evidence received, and we will publish our response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the University of Bristol research paper entitled, The prevalence of gambling adverts during the opening weekend of the English Premier League 2023-23, published 2024; and if she will take legislative steps to reduce the number of gambling adverts shown during football matches.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
His Majesty’s Government recognises that, while millions of people gamble online without experiencing problems, for some it becomes an addiction with serious consequences. In our approach to gambling advertising, we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising that is most likely to appeal to children, while still allowing sports bodies and others to benefit commercially from deals with responsible gambling firms. There are robust rules in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. The Government welcomed the voluntary whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting ads during live sports programmes, agreed by industry. According to figures from the Betting and Gaming Council, the ban reduced gambling advertisement views by children (age 4-17) by 70% over the full duration of live sporting programmes. We also welcomed the Premier League’s announcement that it will ban gambling sponsors from the front of shirts, and are working with a wider group of sports governing bodies to introduce a Code of Conduct on responsible gambling sponsorship.
We continue to monitor research, and have carefully considered the findings in the study by the University of Bristol. Furthermore, we are introducing a statutory levy charged to gambling operators which will raise trusted, long-term funding for gambling research. We are clear that we will continue to look carefully at any further research that results from that and take action if necessary.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling advertising in football on the number of gambling messages displayed throughout televised football matches.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government welcomed the voluntary whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting ads during live sports programmes, agreed by industry. According to figures from the Betting and Gaming Council, the ban reduced gambling advertisement views by children (age 4-17) by 70% over the full duration of live sporting programmes, with a 96% reduction in gambling TV advertising specifically during the restricted period.
As part of the Gambling review, consideration was given to a range of restrictions on gambling advertising. As set out in the white paper we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising and that which is most likely to appeal to children, while still allowing sports bodies to benefit commercially from deals with responsible gambling firms.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of implementing a ban on gambling advertising on all parts of football kits.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government welcomed the voluntary whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting ads during live sports programmes, agreed by industry. According to figures from the Betting and Gaming Council, the ban reduced gambling advertisement views by children (age 4-17) by 70% over the full duration of live sporting programmes, with a 96% reduction in gambling TV advertising specifically during the restricted period.
As part of the Gambling review, consideration was given to a range of restrictions on gambling advertising. As set out in the white paper we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising and that which is most likely to appeal to children, while still allowing sports bodies to benefit commercially from deals with responsible gambling firms.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Prime Minister has made of the effectiveness of the re-formed Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Prime Minister has refocused the department, recognising the importance of the cultural, media and sport sectors to our economy and to build on the UK’s position as a world leader in the creative industries. Our cultural, media, sporting, Creative Industries and charity sectors are worth £145 billion (8% of UK GVA) and support almost four million jobs.
Since February 2023, the department has continued to effectively deliver on the Government’s priority to grow the economy, and create better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country. As an example, in June 2023 the department published the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which set out our ambition to grow the creative industries by £50 billion and support a million more jobs by 2030, with £77 million of new funding for the sector announced.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has also supported additional government priorities, including the delivery of major events like the King’s Coronation and Eurovision, contributing to the government’s substantive legislative programme with the draft Media Bill, a Football White Paper and a Gambling White Paper, and increasing investment in our cultural and creative sectors, grassroots sports facilities, youth programmes, and supporting our charitable and leisure sectors with the increased cost of living.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help prevent addiction to gambling among young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people at risk of gambling harms and addiction.
We recently published a white paper following our Review of the Gambling Act 2005, and are working with the Gambling Commission and other stakeholders to bring these measures into force as soon as possible, subject to further consultation where appropriate. The paper introduces a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected, including young people. These include strengthening the land-based age verification regime, especially around gaming machines in pubs, bringing society lotteries and football pools into line with the National Lottery by raising the minimum age to 18, and putting new expectations on operators to consider age as a potential factor in customer vulnerability.
Over recent years, the Government has worked with the Gambling Commission and others on a range of measures to protect young people from gambling related harm. This includes tightening the age verification requirements for both land-based and online operators in 2019, and raising the minimum age to play the National Lottery to 18 and over in 2021. Last year the Committees of Advertising Practice updated advertising rules so that gambling adverts cannot have strong appeal to children even if they appeal more to adults.
In addition to these regulatory changes, specific steps have been taken to prevent and treat gambling harm in young people. Since September 2020, teaching young people about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt, has been included in the curriculum for all schools under Health Education in all state-funded schools, alongside Relationships Education (primary) and Relationships and Sex Education (secondary). In 2019 the NHS young person gambling addiction service was also launched.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to ban all gambling sponsorships in association football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
On 27 April we published our white paper setting out our conclusions and next steps on gambling advertising and sponsorship, as well as other issues in the broad scope of our Gambling Act Review.
The Gambling Commission requires all marketing activities by gambling operators, including sport sponsorships, to be undertaken in a socially responsible fashion. To ensure high standards for gambling sponsorship across the sport sector, the government will continue to support the sector’s efforts to implement standards for social responsibility through a cross-sport Code of Conduct.
We also welcome the Premier League’s recent announcement that it will ban gambling sponsors from the front of shirts, bringing sponsorship in line with recent rule changes from the Advertising Standards Authority preventing Premier League players from appearing in gambling adverts.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on domestic rates of gambling-related harms.
Answered by Paul Scully
A variety of initiatives are in place across the gambling regulatory framework and health services to protect individuals and the public from harmful gambling and raise awareness of its risks.
The Gambling Commission requires all gambling operators to make information available to customers on how to gamble safely and how to access information on problem gambling and the support available. Most operators signpost to the charity GambleAware’s begambleaware.org site, which contains a wide range of information on risks as well as links to advice and support, including the 24 hour National Gambling Helpline. The NHS webpage 'Help for problem gambling' covers common indicators which suggest that individuals may be experiencing harmful gambling, and the NHS Live Well page on gambling has been updated, providing information on gambling-related harms and signposting to sources of support.
The Department for Health and Social Care is also taking steps to improve and expand specialist treatment services available for people with a gambling addiction. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, £15m has been committed to establish 15 clinics by 2023/24. Seven specialist clinics are already open and accepting patients. DHSC has committed to undertake an audit of gambling-related harm training materials for healthcare professionals to build capability in the healthcare workforce.
There have also been a number of recent voluntary and regulatory initiatives to reduce the visibility of gambling around major sporting events. The gambling industry’s ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban, prevents gambling ads from airing during and immediately before or after live sports coverage before 9pm. Further to this, the Advertising Standards Authority recently implemented tough new rules banning content with ‘strong appeal to children’ from gambling ads, including top-flight and UK national team footballers. GambleAware have also launched a new phase of their ‘Bet Regret’ campaign for the tournament providing increased signposting to support for gambling harm around the 2022 World Cup.
Evidence on the impacts of gambling advertising, including sponsorship around sports, is being closely considered as part of the government's Review of the Gambling Act. A white paper will be published in the coming weeks outlining our conclusions and next steps.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support is in place to protect those affected by gambling harm during the FIFA World Cup.
Answered by Paul Scully
A variety of initiatives are in place across the gambling regulatory framework and health services to protect individuals and the public from harmful gambling and raise awareness of its risks.
The Gambling Commission requires all gambling operators to make information available to customers on how to gamble safely and how to access information on problem gambling and the support available. Most operators signpost to the charity GambleAware’s begambleaware.org site, which contains a wide range of information on risks as well as links to advice and support, including the 24 hour National Gambling Helpline. The NHS webpage 'Help for problem gambling' covers common indicators which suggest that individuals may be experiencing harmful gambling, and the NHS Live Well page on gambling has been updated, providing information on gambling-related harms and signposting to sources of support.
The Department for Health and Social Care is also taking steps to improve and expand specialist treatment services available for people with a gambling addiction. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, £15m has been committed to establish 15 clinics by 2023/24. Seven specialist clinics are already open and accepting patients. DHSC has committed to undertake an audit of gambling-related harm training materials for healthcare professionals to build capability in the healthcare workforce.
There have also been a number of recent voluntary and regulatory initiatives to reduce the visibility of gambling around major sporting events. The gambling industry’s ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban, prevents gambling ads from airing during and immediately before or after live sports coverage before 9pm. Further to this, the Advertising Standards Authority recently implemented tough new rules banning content with ‘strong appeal to children’ from gambling ads, including top-flight and UK national team footballers. GambleAware have also launched a new phase of their ‘Bet Regret’ campaign for the tournament providing increased signposting to support for gambling harm around the 2022 World Cup.
Evidence on the impacts of gambling advertising, including sponsorship around sports, is being closely considered as part of the government's Review of the Gambling Act. A white paper will be published in the coming weeks outlining our conclusions and next steps.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much from the public purse her Department has spent on (a) staff activity, (b) external research and advice, (c) public consultation and (d) stakeholder engagement on the Fan-Led Review of Football Governance and associated proposed legislation since April 2021.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Figures on DCMS’s public spending can be found in DCMS’s Annual Report and Accounts, available on GOV.UK. Spending on the Fan Led Review and associated proposed legislation is a subset of the reported spend of the Sport, Gambling and Ceremonials Directorate.