Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 29 April 2021 to Question 187228 on Gambling: Internet, what the Gambling Commission’s timescale is for publishing an interim update on progress and next steps in relation to its consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission’s consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction closed on 9 February and received over 13,000 responses. The Commission is reviewing that evidence and will publish an interim update on progress and to set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress the Gambling Commission has made on its recent call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction; and what steps the Government plans to take to consider the findings from that call for evidence in its review of the Gambling Act 2005.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission’s consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction closed on 9 February and received over 13,000 responses. The Commission is reviewing that evidence and intends to publish an interim update on progress and to set out the next steps in due course.
Government remains in close contact with the Commission as this progresses, and the Commission is sharing key evidence with the Department on this and other topics which may be relevant to our Review of the Gambling Act 2005. Our call for evidence closed on 31 March 2021, and we are currently carefully considering all the evidence submitted.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence they have that the requirement in the statutory guidance Relationship Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education, published in June 2019, that “pupils should know … the risks related to online gambling including the accumulation of debt” has assisted in reducing gambling among those under 18 years old.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The statutory guidance for Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (RSHE) was published in June 2019 and the subject has been compulsory since September 2020. As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, some schools have only just started to deliver their RSHE curricula and others are planning to start theirs later this year.
Due to this, it is too early to assess the impact of the RSHE curriculum on pupils’ knowledge and skills, including gathering evidence of any link between teaching and a reduction in gambling among those under 18 years of age. However, the statutory guidance is clear that pupils should be taught about the risks related to online gambling, including the accumulation of debt, how advertising and information is targeted at them and how to be a discerning consumer of information online.
The department has published a one-stop page for teachers, including training modules developed by subject experts and teachers. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.
In particular, ‘teacher training: internet safety and harms’ includes teaching about the risks related to online gambling. The module also covers the law in relation to gambling and that for many gambling activities the legal age is 18. Pupils are taught how to be resilient towards gambling, the signs of problem gambling, and how and where to access support, including for debt and gambling addiction. More information on this module is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-training-internet-safety-and-harms.
The department is developing plans to monitor the implementation of RSHE over the coming years and will continue to build its evidence base to inform future RSHE policy, including by working with other government departments to access relevant data and influence research plans as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the support from large technology companies for tackling online problem gambling.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. As part of the wide scope of that Review, we have called for evidence on the case for greater controls on the design of online gambling products, including pre-release testing.
We welcome steps taken by technology companies to support people who are experiencing problem gambling. This includes Google’s recently announced plans to allow its users to opt out of gambling advertising.
According to the 2016 Combined Health Survey, the rate of problem gambling among those who had gambled online during the past year was 3.5%. The 2018 Health Survey for England found a problem gambling rate of 4.2% among past-year online gamblers.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of levels of online problem gambling.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. As part of the wide scope of that Review, we have called for evidence on the case for greater controls on the design of online gambling products, including pre-release testing.
We welcome steps taken by technology companies to support people who are experiencing problem gambling. This includes Google’s recently announced plans to allow its users to opt out of gambling advertising.
According to the 2016 Combined Health Survey, the rate of problem gambling among those who had gambled online during the past year was 3.5%. The 2018 Health Survey for England found a problem gambling rate of 4.2% among past-year online gamblers.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for a product licensing regime for online gambling products.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. As part of the wide scope of that Review, we have called for evidence on the case for greater controls on the design of online gambling products, including pre-release testing.
We welcome steps taken by technology companies to support people who are experiencing problem gambling. This includes Google’s recently announced plans to allow its users to opt out of gambling advertising.
According to the 2016 Combined Health Survey, the rate of problem gambling among those who had gambled online during the past year was 3.5%. The 2018 Health Survey for England found a problem gambling rate of 4.2% among past-year online gamblers.
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 potential effect on public health of limiting the speed of play on online gambling products.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made. The Department continues to work collaboratively with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport supporting their comprehensive review of the Gambling Act 2005, ensuring the regulatory framework is fit for purpose and protecting children and vulnerable people from gambling-related harms.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives from online gaming platform providers on their codes of conduct for online gaming; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers and officials regularly hold meetings and discussions with online gaming platform providers on a range of issues, including online safety. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Under new online safety legislation, all companies in scope will need to tackle illegal content on their platforms, and protect children accessing their services from harmful content and activity. Gaming platforms which host user-generated content or facilitate online interaction will need to take decisive action to protect users on their services, particularly children. For example, they will need to protect children from harmful user-generated content such as bullying.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the consultation on Remote customer interaction published by the Gambling Commission aligns with the Government’s forthcoming review of the Gambling Act 2005.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Gambling Commission requires operators to monitor play and to intervene where players may be at risk of harm. Its consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction is considering whether further requirements are needed for how operators identify and interact with customers who may be at risk.
The Commission will be led by the evidence it receives in deciding its next steps, and its findings may also inform its advice to government on the Review of the Gambling Act 2005. Following a one month extension to allow extra evidence to be submitted, the deadline for submissions was 9 February.
The government launched the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 in December with a Call for Evidence, which runs until 31 March. The Review aims to strike the right balance between preventing harm and respecting consumers’ freedom of choice. More information about the Call for Evidence and how to make a submission is available here:
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle and reduce demand for illegal online gambling.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Data released by the Gambling Commission in May 2020 suggested that the scale of the black market had remained low and stable, with little variation in the number of complaints it had received about illegal gambling websites over the previous 12 months. The Commission’s enforcement approach includes working with web hosting companies and search engines to remove sites or prevent them appearing on searches, and working with payment providers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators. It also has powers to prosecute or refer issues to partner agencies such as HMRC where necessary.
The government’s Review of the Gambling Act 2005 has called for evidence on issues around unlicensed gambling, and we are aware of the recent report commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council. We are also consulting on a proposed uplift to Gambling Commission licence fees, which will strengthen the resources it has to identify the scale of and tackle illegal gambling.
The Gambling Commission requires operators to monitor play and to intervene where players may be at risk of harm. Its consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction is considering whether further requirements are needed for how operators identify and interact with customers who may be at risk.
The Commission will be led by the evidence it receives in deciding its next steps, and its findings may also inform its advice to government on the Gambling Act Review. Following a one month extension to allow extra evidence to be submitted, the deadline for submissions is now 9 February.