Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of gambling impact assessments on the licensing of gambling premises by local authorities.

Gambling Impact Assessments (GIAs) have now been introduced in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act. GIAs are yet to come into force, however, the Government is preparing for their introduction and working closely with the Gambling Commission on guidance to support their successful implementation.

GIAs will allow local authorities to change the presumption in licensing decisions away from the ‘aim to permit’, where there is evidence that additional premises would undermine the licensing objectives for gambling regulation. The local authority would then be able to adopt a policy that it will reject applications for gambling premises licences in the area covered by a GIA, unless the applicant can show that the grant of the licence would be reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives. The Government believes that GIAs will be an effective tool for local authorities, protecting them from legal challenges and providing much needed clarity when making licensing decisions.