Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support Hampshire and Isle of Wight integrated care system to deliver mental health services that meet levels of demand in that region.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have provided Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System with funding to increase access to specialist maternal and perinatal mental health services for at least 600 women by March 2023. This will also allow increased access to psychological support for anxiety and depression for more than 50,000 people a year and new and integrated models of primary and community mental health care for over 13,000 people a year with complex mental health problems.
A suicide bereavement support service has been in place since April 2022 and a problem gambling pilot service has recently been launched. In addition, new mental health provision for rough sleepers is being developed.
Additional investment has improved the capacity and resilience of the mental health crisis pathway for children and young people and specialist community child and adolescent mental health services to address increased demand and historic waiting lists. This investment has also increased the capacity of prevention and early help services and expanded the provision of eight new mental health support teams since January 2021.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on implementing a statutory levy on the gambling industry to fund education, research and treatment in respect of gambling-related harm.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Officials in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health and Social Care are discussing evidence of the effectiveness of existing funding arrangements to support projects and services related to harmful gambling. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport expects to publish its white paper outlining the conclusions and proposals for reform in due course.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of clinicians' recommendation that there should be a levy board responsible for a statutory gambling levy in the UK.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to assess the effectiveness of existing funding arrangements to support projects and services related to problem gambling. This includes the appropriate governance structures to oversee this funding. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s white paper with proposals for reform is expected to be published shortly.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of treatment programmes for people suffering from gambling-related harm.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific assessment has been made. The NHS Long Term Plan announced the creation of 15 new specialist problem gambling clinics by 2023/24. Five clinics are now operational, with a further three expected to open later this year.
The Department and NHS England are undertaking a review to ensure there is a coherent pathway of advice and treatment for those experiencing gambling-related harm. This review will focus on better alignment across treatment and support services provided by the National Health Service and third sector organisations.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specialist gambling-related addiction services the NHS currently operates.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The NHS Long Term Plan announced the creation of 15 new specialist gambling treatment clinics. There are currently five specialist clinics in operation: the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London; a children and young persons’ provision at the National Problem Gambling Clinic; the Northern Gambling Service in Leeds; and satellite clinics in Manchester and Sunderland.
National Health Service expenditure on the specialist clinics was £1 million in 2019/20, £1 million in 2020/21 and £3 million in 2021/22. Data on the number of patients treated by the NHS for gambling addiction is not held centrally. The NHS does not receive money directly from the gambling industry. Until 1 April 2022, the London and Leeds clinics were partially funded by GambleAware, an independent charity supported by voluntary donations from the gambling industry. GambleAware contributed £1.2 million per year to the NHS clinics in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle harms that can be caused by problem gambling.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are currently conducting a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure gambling regulation is fit for the digital age. This builds on action by the government and the Gambling Commission to strengthen protections in recent years including cutting the stake on gaming machines in betting shops, banning gambling on credit cards, mandating operator participation in the national online self-exclusion scheme GAMSTOP, tightening restrictions on VIP schemes, making online slots safer by design and raising the minimum age of sale of National Lottery games.
In 2019, DCMS secured a commitment from industry to contribute £100m over four years to problem gambling treatment. NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are also continuing work to improve and expand specialist treatment services, with up to 15 new NHS clinics set to open by 2023/24. Since 2020, children have been taught about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt, as part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum in England.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to raise public awareness of the danger of gambling addiction.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
A variety of initiatives are in place across the gambling regulatory framework, health services, and the educational curriculum to protect individuals and the wider public from harmful gambling and raise awareness of its risks.
As part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum in England, young people are taught about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt. To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence, the Department for Education has also developed a series of training modules, one of which has a specific section on gambling.
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, as well as advice and links to treatment services. Work is also being done to raise awareness through frontline practitioners, with GambleAware publishing a competency framework for primary care practitioners to improve the awareness and responsiveness of Primary Care to gambling harms.
Since 2019, GambleAware’s ‘Bet Regret’ campaign, a commitment from the government’s last Gambling Review, has effectively encouraged awareness of risky betting behaviours and action to help regain control, as well as signposting to further support. Members of the Betting and Gaming Council have also committed 20% of their advertising on TV and radio to safer gambling messaging and the Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising requires social responsibility messaging throughout the length of all broadcast gambling adverts.
The Government’s Review of the Gambling Act 2005 aims to ensure gambling regulation is fit for the digital age. As part of the wide scope of that Review, we called for evidence on the effectiveness of safer gambling messaging across a number of media, and we are considering the evidence carefully. We will publish a white paper in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to implement policies and interventions to reduce gambling-related harms in England.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has responsibility for the treatment of gambling-related harms. The NHS Long Term Plan published in 2019 announced the creation of 15 new specialist problem gambling clinics with up to £15 million of funding allocated over five years until 2023/24. Five clinics are already in operation, and DHSC continues to support the National Health Service on the phased expansion of services.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the lead government department on gambling, responsible for policy and regulation, and is leading the wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure that the protections in place are appropriate for the digital age. DHSC remains fully supportive of the Review and will continue to work collaboratively with DCMS to advise policy direction where appropriate.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support students who have gambling addictions.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As autonomous bodies, it is for higher education (HE) providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. They are not only experts in their student population but also best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body.
The government strongly supports the Stepchange: Mentally Healthy Universities framework, calling on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority. The government also supports The University Mental Health Charter, which outlines that effective services should be responsive to changes in need among their population, including specific issues such as addiction.
We remain committed to preventing gambling-related harm and ensuring those experiencing it can access the right treatment and support whenever and wherever they need it. The NHS Long-Term Plan, published in July 2019, announced the creation of 15 specialist problem gambling clinics by 2023/24, with up to £15 million of funding over the same period. Work continues on the phased expansion of these services, enabling the NHS to explore how best to use existing treatment models to reach those most in need of support.
The government and the Gambling Commission have also significantly raised requirements around age verification, banned gambling on credit cards, made online slots safer with a new game design code, mandated integration with Gamstop (the one-stop online self exclusion scheme) and introduced new rules on VIP schemes
We are also reviewing the Gambling Act to ensure it is fit for the digital age. A core objective of the review is to ensure effective protections are in place for the further protection of vulnerable groups, including children and young people. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform in due course.
From September 2020, the subject of health education was made compulsory in all state-funded schools. This includes teaching young people about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt.
The NHS website offers support for those that are worried they may have a gambling problem, and outlines support: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/gambling-addiction/.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on tackling gambling and gambling addiction in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In 2019, the NHS Long Term Plan committed up to £15 million allocated over five years until 2023/24 to support the creation of 15 specialist problem gambling clinics. The following table shows the National Health Service committed annual spend for problem gambling mental health support in each of these financial years.
2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
£1 million | £1 million | £3 million | £4 million | £6 million |
Source: NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24
The data on spending to tackle gambling addiction before 2019 is not held centrally.