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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of annual gambling-related suicides in the UK; and what plans they have, if any, to conduct further research in this area.

Data on the cause of death in cases of suicide is not recorded centrally with a level of granularity that would list gambling as a factor. Government therefore does not have an estimate of the number of suicides each year where gambling is involved.

The government takes suicide prevention very seriously and updated the Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2017. We are also encouraging Local Authorities to implement prevention plans to provide support at a local level.

A focus on reducing gambling-related harm, protecting the vulnerable and making sure that those experiencing problems are getting the help they need is key to the government Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility. The consultation closed on 23 January, and we will publish our response in due course.