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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the suitability of the NHS Health Survey in assessing problem gambling rates in the United Kingdom.

The Government is committed to reviewing all official statistics assessing gambling harm in the United Kingdom to help to build our picture of gambling harm. This includes the NHS Health Survey, and we will continue to engage with relevant officials in the Department for Health and Social Care about the NHS Health Survey and the evidence it provides on gambling harm.

We are aware that the harms that can ensue from harmful gambling are many and diverse and we will use all available evidence to better understand the impact that harmful gambling can have on people. Considering the NHS Health Survey alongside the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain provides us with a wider understanding of the potential consequences that can arise from gambling and ensures that we have more frequent statistics on gambling harm rates. Policy and regulatory change is not based on single statistics or evidence sources, and we will continue to use evidence from a range of sources to assess harmful gambling in the United Kingdom.