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: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money the NHS received from the gambling industry, including the National Lottery, in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, and (3) 2021.
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: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients were treated by the NHS for gambling addiction problems in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021.
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: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money the NHS has spent treating patients with gambling-related addiction problems in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021.
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: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 require members’ clubs and social clubs to enforce the wearing of masks, while other hospitality venues providing identical activities, such as pubs, are not required to; and why their approach to regulating members’ clubs and social clubs has changed from previous COVID-19-related regulations, under which such clubs were not treated differently to pubs and similar hospitality venues.
Answered by Lord Kamall
In contrast to previous periods when face-coverings were mandated, they are not required in hospitality settings such as cafes, restaurants and pubs as it is impractical to wear a face-covering whilst eating and drinking. While face coverings are required in settings including community centres, youth centres, members’ clubs and social clubs, they are not required in areas where eating and drinking occur.
Social clubs and members’ clubs are diverse in the activities they offer rather than solely for eating and drinking. However, where a social club or members’ club is providing hospitality, there is a specific exemption for those areas within the premises from the requirement to wear face coverings, which provides consistency with the hospitality sector.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unregulated gambling operators were (1) discovered, and (2) stopped, in (a) 2019, and (b) 2020.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2019/20 the Gambling Commission took enforcement action in 59 cases involving unlicensed online operators. It has taken enforcement action in 74 cases so far in 2020/21. The Commission’s action includes coordinating with regulators in other jurisdictions, working with payment providers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators and working with web hosting companies and search engines to remove sites or prevent them appearing on searches.
The Commission have not received any reports of the dark web being used by GB customers for illegal gambling, but the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 will consider the risks posed by emerging technologies and a number of issues around unlicensed gambling operators, including the current scale of the issue and whether the Gambling Commission has the powers it needs to tackle it effectively. The government is also consulting on an uplift to industry licence fees, which will provide the Commission with greater capacity in the short to medium term to investigate and tackle the threat caused by unlicensed operators.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent gambling operators from using the 'dark' web for illegal activities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2019/20 the Gambling Commission took enforcement action in 59 cases involving unlicensed online operators. It has taken enforcement action in 74 cases so far in 2020/21. The Commission’s action includes coordinating with regulators in other jurisdictions, working with payment providers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators and working with web hosting companies and search engines to remove sites or prevent them appearing on searches.
The Commission have not received any reports of the dark web being used by GB customers for illegal gambling, but the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 will consider the risks posed by emerging technologies and a number of issues around unlicensed gambling operators, including the current scale of the issue and whether the Gambling Commission has the powers it needs to tackle it effectively. The government is also consulting on an uplift to industry licence fees, which will provide the Commission with greater capacity in the short to medium term to investigate and tackle the threat caused by unlicensed operators.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the introduction of rules by the Betting and Gaming Council aimed at preventing football clubs using social media to promote gambling, what plans they have to ensure other forms of potentially harmful advertising are addressed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
My department has been considering how online advertising is regulated through its Online Advertising Programme, and will be consulting on this issue later this year. Our aim is to foster fair, accountable and ethical online advertising that works for citizens, businesses and society as a whole. In particular, we want to ensure standards about the placement and content of advertising can be effectively applied and enforced online so that consumers have limited exposure to harmful or misleading advertising.
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8th December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. As part of the broad scope of that Review, we have called for evidence on the benefits or harms of allowing gambling operators to advertise. The Call for Evidence will remain open until 31 March, and no policy decisions have yet been made. The government intends to set out conclusions, including any proposals for change, in a white paper later this year.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to include non-profit private members’ clubs as a qualifying category for the Christmas Support Payment for wet-led pubs; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Christmas Support Payment was put in place specifically to help pubs without a significant food offering, whose businesses were severely impacted by the local restrictions over the festive period. The scheme eligibility period ended on 28 December 2020 and the closing date for applications is 12 January 2021.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether premises operating under a Club Premises Certificate are permitted to continue to supply alcohol to members without providing a substantial meal in any area within Tier 3 of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Until 3 December, tier requirements will not apply because of the new national restrictions. As part of the national restrictions, however, we continue to recognise providing informal social care to relatives and vulnerable people is of the highest importance.
The local Covid alert level Very High restrictions are designed to reduce the transmission of the virus. In so doing all bars and public houses are closed, similarly restaurants and cafes can remain open only if they serve a substantial meal, alcohol may only be served with a substantial meal. The same applies to private members clubs; they are prohibited from staying open if they simply serve alcohol. They may remain open if they serve substantial meals and may serve alcohol with the same.