Gambling Act Review White Paper

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Wednesday 3rd May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I had the pleasure of serving on your Lordships’ committee that looked into this matter, under the chairmanship of my noble friend. I am pleased to say that the more than 50 recommendations of its report have been taken forward in this work. We want new protections to be in force quickly. As your Lordships’ committee, and my noble friend, pointed out, many of these new protections do not require waiting for primary legislation. We will bring forward changes through Gambling Commission licence conditions for operators and through secondary legislation. For measures that require primary legislation, that will be when parliamentary time allows.

The commission has taken a more interventionist and aggressive stance. In 2022-23, operators were required to pay more than £60 million in penalties, with William Hill recently paying a record £19.2 million because of its failings. The commission is taking the action we need, and Ministers meet its chief exec and chairman regularly to continue to discuss that.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, I remind the House of my interests: I am a trustee of GambleAware, I am on the advisory group of the Behavioural Insights Team, I am a vice-chair of Peers for Gambling Reform and I also served on the Select Committee. There is lots to welcome. I do not want to go through every issue, but one that I am concerned about is the position of young people who are tempted into gambling through some sports, particularly football. There is simply not enough in the White Paper that deals with that.

From research, we know that nearly half of 11 to 17 year-olds report seeing gambling adverts on social media at least weekly. We know that half of children’s sections in football matchday programmes feature gambling sponsors. Anybody who goes to football on a regular basis knows that the whole game has been almost taken over by the gambling industry: you cannot go to a match without having it in your face. What the Premier League will do, welcome as it is, is far too partial and small, and it is not for all of football. We need to do this so that many young people are not led into things that they then cannot control. Nothing in the White Paper helps us with that.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness—we had the opportunity briefly to discuss this with some officials earlier, and I know that she will continue to take the opportunities to do that as we implement this. She is right to point to the importance of sponsorship in sport and its impact on children. With the reforms we have made to advertising that has the greatest appeal to children, we have taken action in this area.

The most prominent branding on players’ kits is of course on the front of their shirts. It is not just what people see on the television; it is on the shirts that young supporters buy and wear. So we welcome the action taken to remove that; it is the most effective restriction to break the association. The White Paper sets out further detail: sports bodies are working together to design and implement a cross-sport code of conduct to raise standards for gambling sponsorship across the sector. There is detail in the White Paper and more work to be done.

BBC: Appointment and Resignation of Chair

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Tuesday 2nd May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

I completely agree with what my noble friend says about the brilliant work done by Richard Sharp during his time as chairman of the BBC and with the comments he made about the deplorable cartoon in the Guardian, which I am glad was pulled. The Adam Heppinstall report rightly points to the impact that the publication of candidates’ names in the media can have on the public appointments process, and we echo the concerns he raised there. The process to appoint a new permanent chairman will be run in a robust, fair and open manner, in accordance with the governance code.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, when I was a councillor and somebody knocked on my door to say that they were applying for a school caretaker’s job or a dinner assistant’s job, I would say, “Congratulations; I hope you do well. I will now take no part in the selection because I now have an interest: I know who you are”. The noble Lord opposite is right: the Government must make sure that the appointments process is open and that lobbying will actually be a disadvantage rather than the way you get on, which is the way the Government have been behaving.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

Ministerial responsibility is a core principle of the public appointments system. It is important that the process is run and is seen to be run in accordance with that code, and that people declare the things they are required to declare, so that people know. However, there are other independent panel members who are appointed to appointment panels to make sure that there is independence in the system. These are decisions on which Ministers are entitled to take a view, in line with the Government’s code.

William Hill: Breaches of Player Protection

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

As part of our review of the 2005 Act, we want to make sure that we get the right balance between respecting people’s freedom of choice, preventing harm and effective and proportionate protections. As part of that review, we have called for evidence on the impacts of advertising, including sports sponsorship. We will be led by the evidence and take appropriate and proportionate action where necessary.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, I remind the House of my interests in the register. Given the seriousness of the complaints that led to the imposition, it is not good enough just to recognise that the Gambling Commission has done its job, because individuals were seriously harmed. It shows that what the industry has said to the Government is simply not true; it allowed people to gamble outside what it had already committed to not allowing to happen. The Government need to think very carefully about the commitments the industry is making to them on the White Paper so that they understand the real harm done to some individuals.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

We respect the independence of the Gambling Commission. As I have already quoted, its chief executive Andrew Rhodes said that in this case it found widespread and alarming failings. The Government are certainly not minimising its findings in this case. Separately, we are looking at the statutory framework under which it operates to make sure that our gambling laws are fit for an age in which people carry a super-casino on their smartphone in their pocket. It is right that we look at those laws again. We have been doing so, speaking to the industry and campaigners, and have been mindful of reports such as that of your Lordships’ committee.

Football: Illegal Entry to Matches

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Wednesday 1st February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

The noble Baroness is right that the report from the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, had recommendations for a number of parties, and the Government have indeed spoken to the other parties for whom the recommendations were made. We will not respond on behalf of others, but we are working with them, not least the Sports Grounds Safety Authority, which we commissioned to conduct, and act on, research related to stewarding capacity in the events sector.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, given that we know that there are increasing problems at football matches, what are the Government going to do to make sure that they address those issues now? We have an outstanding review of football governance, et cetera—to which the Government have not responded and on which they have not come out with their proposals—as well as the review from the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, on safety and security. We also know, if nothing else from yesterday’s mind-boggling figures for money spent in the transfer market, that there is a lot of money awash in the Premier League. In their response to the report of the Minister’s honourable friend in the other House, Tracey Crouch, perhaps they can look at how football itself improves stewardship, which was also one of the recommendations in the noble Baroness’s report. Will they make sure that they properly look after fans on a Saturday, on a Tuesday, on a Wednesday or whenever they go, by spending their money properly?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

The noble Baroness is right that there is action for everybody throughout football to ensure that people can enjoy the game safely. We should not overstate it; the vast majority of people who go to matches do so in a law-abiding way and help people do that. There is a minority of people who want to spoil that. As I have said, we have taken action to toughen football banning orders. The football authorities themselves have taken action, with the FA, the Premier League and the English Football League announcing tougher sanctions, including automatic reporting to the police of anyone participating in anti-social or criminal behaviour. On the fan-led review commissioned by my honourable friend Tracey Crouch, we will be coming forward in the coming weeks with our response.

Independent Fan-led Review of Football Governance

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

Monday 29th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My Lords, yes, the Government were very clear that cash should flow through the football pyramid more fairly and called on clubs to do that during the pandemic. I am very glad to say that, in many cases, it was so, but that is one of the recommendations followed up by Tracey Crouch and her review and one that we will look at carefully.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords, as a member of the north-east fanatical football supporters’ league—but not a Newcastle United fan—I was disappointed when the Minister said earlier on that, essentially, the way the Premier League assesses “fit and proper person” is none of the Government’s business. It should be. Some of us have been saying for 20 years—for a lot longer than that, actually—that too much of our football governance is not fit for purpose and that the drive of the Premier League for more and more money has undermined much of what football is meant to be about. It is tragic that we do not have more fans properly engaged in governance in this country. The Premier League—I challenge it on this—does not want that because it believes that it will put off money and monied people coming into the Premier League. Therefore, will the Government, in their review of the Tracey Crouch report and their thoughts about future governance, really think about the model that is spread throughout the UK that would involve fans much more centrally in direct governance of football?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My Lords, as I say, while we are considering the review’s recommendations, it is clear from Tracey Crouch’s report that there is a significant opportunity to tighten up and strengthen the current owners’ and directors’ test. We will look at that very seriously and come forward with our response to the report in due course.

Domestic Abuse Bill

Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top

2nd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 5th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity for the House to consider this Bill, which we now know is even more important than we thought before. We know that it has long-lasting impact, not only on the women who are the principal victims but on their children. The rise in domestic abuse during the pandemic is, quite honestly, frightening, and goes alongside the significant rise in sexual exploitation and abuse of women more widely. This pandemic has been a crisis in more ways than one for too many women and girls.

I welcome the Minister saying that there will be future legislative opportunities, but I do hope that we can make some improvements to this Bill while we have it, because the more improvements we can make, the more women we will be able to protect. I hope that, having now learned some of the difficult lessons of escalation of abuse during the lockdowns, the Government will be open to amendments. As the Minister said, I had the privilege of being a member of the pre-legislative scrutiny Joint Committee, which made recommendations that I thank the Government for accepting—but there were some that they did not include, and I hope that they will now, for example, see the importance of strengthening the powers and accountability of the domestic abuse commissioner.

I have been involved in tackling domestic abuse for much of my working life—far too long—having helped to establish one of the very first refuges in the country in the late 1970s in Sunderland. Refuges for women are an important way of helping women who have no option but to flee from home, and I welcome the Government agreeing specifically to support them through the duty on local authorities. However, it is not sufficient. If government support through this additional duty remains the only remedy, it may end up being a perverse incentive. Changing Lives offers supported housing across the north-east of England for those who are unable to access refuges. They may be women with older children, people with substance misuse problems or offending histories, men or transgender people. Ironically, the problem is not one of finding them individual accommodation in the north-east—it is in getting money for support and the capacity to provide that support. I can tell the Minister that the demand is huge and frightening again.

There is also the challenge of supporting women who are at risk of losing custody of their children, where the main need is identified as domestic abuse. The report of the commission that I chaired, Breaking Down the Barriers, looked at the experiences of women who had suffered violence and abuse. The women whom we worked with identified this as one of the main barriers to people looking for help. Changing Lives runs a project in Newcastle that offers supported accommodation for women and their children, and it is primarily for women with substance misuse problems which mean that their children are subject to child protection plans. For most of those women, their addiction started after domestic abuse. Some 60% of the families leave Ridley Villas together, having been taken off the child protection register, to live their lives free from addiction and abuse. Trevi House in Plymouth is another good example. So there are examples of the Government recognising that there needs to be significant support for community interventions, not just refuges—but we need to work on that in the Bill.

The other thing that I want to raise is an issue that I shall follow up with an amendment. The women we worked with—

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

Sorry, the noble Baroness has already taken four minutes.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab) [V]]

I am really sorry. Basically, if we can make sure that everyone is trained who sees a woman with domestic abuse in a service, we will do a lot to make sure that they are helped.