Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector providers and (b) people with lived experience of gambling harms are represented on the NHS England and integrated care board working group on gambling harms treatment commissioning.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is in the process of establishing new governance structures for the Gambling Harms Treatment Programme to ensure effective oversight, via a Regional Commissioning Leads Forum. Terms of Reference for this group are currently being finalised, but its aim will be to bring together NHS gambling harms commissioning leads from across the country to consider issues such as funding allocations and procurement decisions.
Due to the commercial nature of many of these discussions, this Forum will not be open to outside participants and minutes will not be routinely published. However, NHS England does plan to engage with external stakeholders in other ways, including through a new Lived Experience Forum to be established in early 2027, meetings with voluntary, community and social enterprise treatment providers in receipt of levy funding, and focussed engagement sessions on specific programme outputs.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) membership, (b) scope and function, and (c) meeting schedule is of the joint NHS England and integrated care board working group overseeing the commissioning of gambling harms treatment services from April 2027.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is in the process of establishing new governance structures for the Gambling Harms Treatment Programme to ensure effective oversight, via a Regional Commissioning Leads Forum. Terms of Reference for this group are currently being finalised, but its aim will be to bring together NHS gambling harms commissioning leads from across the country to consider issues such as funding allocations and procurement decisions.
Due to the commercial nature of many of these discussions, this Forum will not be open to outside participants and minutes will not be routinely published. However, NHS England does plan to engage with external stakeholders in other ways, including through a new Lived Experience Forum to be established in early 2027, meetings with voluntary, community and social enterprise treatment providers in receipt of levy funding, and focussed engagement sessions on specific programme outputs.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will publish the terms of reference and minutes of the NHS England and integrated care board working group on gambling harms treatment commissioning.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is in the process of establishing new governance structures for the Gambling Harms Treatment Programme to ensure effective oversight, via a Regional Commissioning Leads Forum. Terms of Reference for this group are currently being finalised, but its aim will be to bring together NHS gambling harms commissioning leads from across the country to consider issues such as funding allocations and procurement decisions.
Due to the commercial nature of many of these discussions, this Forum will not be open to outside participants and minutes will not be routinely published. However, NHS England does plan to engage with external stakeholders in other ways, including through a new Lived Experience Forum to be established in early 2027, meetings with voluntary, community and social enterprise treatment providers in receipt of levy funding, and focussed engagement sessions on specific programme outputs.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress has been made on establishing and implementing the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace since its launch.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK, alongside Australia and Canada, launched the International Peace Fund in June 2026 to support practical, grassroots initiatives that bring Israelis and Palestinians together, rebuild trust and support a sustainable two-state solution. The UK, Australia and Canada have each committed £1 million to launch the Fund. Funding will go to a range of projects, particularly those that include youth groups, civil society organisations and women, with an emphasis on relationship building and creating opportunities for engagement that can underpin future peace negotiations.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will provide an update on the implementation of the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, including the steps the Government is taking to support Israeli and Palestinian civil society organisations working to advance a just peace, an end to occupation, and true self-determination, equality and security for all.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK, alongside Australia and Canada, launched the International Peace Fund in June 2026 to support practical, grassroots initiatives that bring Israelis and Palestinians together, rebuild trust and support a sustainable two-state solution. The UK, Australia and Canada have each committed £1 million to launch the Fund. Funding will go to a range of projects, particularly those that include youth groups, civil society organisations and women, with an emphasis on relationship building and creating opportunities for engagement that can underpin future peace negotiations.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Investigate Europe's report entitled Payment firms handled millions for companies linked to unlicensed gambling network, published on 9 July 2026, whether the payments association is part of the illegal gambling task force.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to taking action on the illegal gambling market. Since its launch in January this year, the Illegal Gambling Taskforce has worked with payment providers and other relevant stakeholders to consider the best way to tackle the issue of payments relating to illegal gambling.
We plan to report on the progress made by the Illegal Gambling Taskforce once it has completed its first year, and will consider whether to set out membership of the Taskforce at that point.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the Reform Party holding discussions with the Gambling Commission on Crypto Gambling.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Commission, as the independent regulator for gambling, has responsibility for making decisions around licensing. The Gambling Commission has not been approached or held any discussion with the Reform Party on crypto gambling.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Gambling Commission is taking to prevent UK licensed gambling software companies providing games to illegal gambling sites.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Commission, as the independent regulator for gambling, has responsibility for making decisions around licensing.
As part of its regulatory approach, the Gambling Commission assesses applicants against the statutory licensing objectives and may take compliance and enforcement action where it identifies evidence of breaches of licence conditions or other regulatory requirements. This includes where operators or gambling software licensees are found to be supplying the illegal gambling market.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish a list of organisations that have lobbied the Gambling Commission or her Department on the subject of crypto gambling.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
As the Gambling Commission is an independent regulatory body, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not hold records of which organisations have lobbied the Commission on any particular topic.
Transparency data for ministerial meetings will be published quarterly in due course.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking in response to the findings of the report entitled Young people and work: interim report, published on 28 May 2026.
Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
I commissioned Alan Millburn’s review precisely because this is one of the key issues we inherited. And I am determined, my department will play its role in addressing this.
We are doing this through investing £2.5 billion through the Youth Guarantee, Expanding the number Youth in Great Britain, introducing Right to Try, rebalancing Universal Credit to improve incentives to work, and investing in personalised employment support.