Asked by: Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths related to gambling harm were recorded in Great Britain in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Ministry of Justice publishes annual coroner statistics which include all short form and narrative conclusions such as accident or misadventure, open and suicide.
However, the statistics do not include the motivating factor behind the deaths as it is beyond the coroner’s jurisdiction to determine why someone died. The coroner’s statutory role is limited to determining the identity of the deceased; how, when and where they died; and any information needed to register the death.
Asked by: Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact assessments on the societal cost of problem gambling they have undertaken to inform their proposed white paper on gambling reform.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in Public Health England’s evidence review on gambling-related harms, the estimated problem gambling rate for England was 0.5% in 2018, or around 245,600 people, with figures drawn from the Health Survey. The most recent combined Health Survey figure for adults in Great Britain was 0.6%, or approximately 340,000 people, in 2016. To supplement the Health Surveys, the Gambling Commission carries out a quarterly survey by telephone which includes a shortened problem gambling screening. For the year to September 2021 this estimated a problem gambling rate of 0.3%.
According to the Commission’s Young People and Gambling 2019 report, 11% of 11-16 year olds said they had spent their own money on gambling activities in the seven days prior to being surveyed. This was a reduction from 14% in 2018 and 23% in 2011.
Public Health England’s evidence review also looked at the available evidence on the direct, indirect and intangible costs of gambling harm to society. It estimated an annual cost of approximately £1.27 billion associated with people who are problem or at-risk gamblers, including £619.2 million of intangible costs associated with suicide.
Asked by: Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of children in Great Britain who gamble regularly; and what research they have undertaken to form this estimate.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in Public Health England’s evidence review on gambling-related harms, the estimated problem gambling rate for England was 0.5% in 2018, or around 245,600 people, with figures drawn from the Health Survey. The most recent combined Health Survey figure for adults in Great Britain was 0.6%, or approximately 340,000 people, in 2016. To supplement the Health Surveys, the Gambling Commission carries out a quarterly survey by telephone which includes a shortened problem gambling screening. For the year to September 2021 this estimated a problem gambling rate of 0.3%.
According to the Commission’s Young People and Gambling 2019 report, 11% of 11-16 year olds said they had spent their own money on gambling activities in the seven days prior to being surveyed. This was a reduction from 14% in 2018 and 23% in 2011.
Public Health England’s evidence review also looked at the available evidence on the direct, indirect and intangible costs of gambling harm to society. It estimated an annual cost of approximately £1.27 billion associated with people who are problem or at-risk gamblers, including £619.2 million of intangible costs associated with suicide.
Asked by: Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of problem gamblers in Great Britain; and what research they have undertaken to form this estimate.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in Public Health England’s evidence review on gambling-related harms, the estimated problem gambling rate for England was 0.5% in 2018, or around 245,600 people, with figures drawn from the Health Survey. The most recent combined Health Survey figure for adults in Great Britain was 0.6%, or approximately 340,000 people, in 2016. To supplement the Health Surveys, the Gambling Commission carries out a quarterly survey by telephone which includes a shortened problem gambling screening. For the year to September 2021 this estimated a problem gambling rate of 0.3%.
According to the Commission’s Young People and Gambling 2019 report, 11% of 11-16 year olds said they had spent their own money on gambling activities in the seven days prior to being surveyed. This was a reduction from 14% in 2018 and 23% in 2011.
Public Health England’s evidence review also looked at the available evidence on the direct, indirect and intangible costs of gambling harm to society. It estimated an annual cost of approximately £1.27 billion associated with people who are problem or at-risk gamblers, including £619.2 million of intangible costs associated with suicide.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of gambling on (a) mental health and (b) levels of suicide.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in Public Health England’s evidence review of gambling-related harms, the problem gambling rate for England was estimated as 0.5% in 2018, and has been relatively stable since 2012. The 2018 Health Survey also showed the problem gambling rate for Yorkshire and the Humber was 0.7%.
Public Health England’s (PHE) evidence review of gambling-related harms found that there is a higher prevalence of problem gambling among people with poor health, low life satisfaction and wellbeing scores, and the problem gambling rate is higher among more deprived groups than less deprived groups.
It also found an association between harmful gambling, poor mental health and higher levels of alcohol consumption, although most of the published studies were not able to demonstrate the direction of causation.
The review examined the association between suicidal behaviours and problem gambling. It estimates 409 deaths a year from suicide associated with problem gambling, based on studies in Sweden. The government does not hold data on how many suicides in the United Kingdom are linked to gambling.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the level and impact of gambling-related harm (a) nationally and (b) in York.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in Public Health England’s evidence review of gambling-related harms, the problem gambling rate for England was estimated as 0.5% in 2018, and has been relatively stable since 2012. The 2018 Health Survey also showed the problem gambling rate for Yorkshire and the Humber was 0.7%.
Public Health England’s (PHE) evidence review of gambling-related harms found that there is a higher prevalence of problem gambling among people with poor health, low life satisfaction and wellbeing scores, and the problem gambling rate is higher among more deprived groups than less deprived groups.
It also found an association between harmful gambling, poor mental health and higher levels of alcohol consumption, although most of the published studies were not able to demonstrate the direction of causation.
The review examined the association between suicidal behaviours and problem gambling. It estimates 409 deaths a year from suicide associated with problem gambling, based on studies in Sweden. The government does not hold data on how many suicides in the United Kingdom are linked to gambling.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of gambling being recorded as a relevant factor, where appropriate, in Coroner's proceedings.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
As set out in the response to the report by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry, Gambling Harm—Time for Action, the Government recognises that quality information on the circumstances leading to self-harm and suicide, including gambling issues, can support better interventions.
However, as the Committee observes, whilst a coroner may be made aware of information about the motivation or contributory factors in a suicide, it is generally beyond the coroner’s jurisdiction to determine why someone died, with the aim of the inquest being to determine who died, and how, when and where they died. This is for a number of reasons, including the fact that a coroner’s investigation is a fact-finding exercise and coroners are not permitted by statute to appear to determine any question of civil or criminal liability against another person.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Government Response to the House of Lords Gambling Industry Committee Report: Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry, published on 8 December, how they intend to record gambling related suicides.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As detailed in the Government’s response to the Committee’s Report, we have no plans to separately identify gambling-related suicides as, amongst other things, coroners do not usually provide what might be understood as the ‘reason’ for a suicide in their verdicts, which would seriously compromise the reliability and, therefore, the validity of any resulting data.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005 on (a) levels of gambling-related harm and (b) rates of gambling-related suicide.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Since 1999 rates of problem gambling have been measured through the three British Gambling Prevalence Surveys and subsequently in the Health Surveys for Scotland and England and the Gambling Commission’s survey of gambling behaviour in Wales. The proportion of the adult population of Great Britain who are considered to be problem gamblers has remained stable at below 1% since the first survey in 1999. The government has committed to review the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age and more details will be announced in due course.
As set out in answer to Question 82541, there has been no assessment of the longer term trends in rates of gambling related suicide. Determining factors related to individual deaths by suicide is difficult and complicated, but we know that there may be wider lifestyle factors associated with problem gambling that may link to poor mental health, and that problem gambling can create a cycle of debt that can also have a significant impact on mental health and wellbeing. In extreme cases it may lead to thoughts of suicide.
The Government committed to addressing suicide risk and gambling in the latest progress report to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan, which were published in January 2019.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of gambling-related suicides.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have made no such assessment. There is currently no reliable estimate of the number of suicides linked to problem gambling in the United Kingdom, and there would be significant challenges in attempting to record this. Requiring coroners to routinely assess the motivation in all cases of suicide would take the coroner role fundamentally beyond its legal parameters.
We know that there may be wider lifestyle factors associated with gambling addiction that may link to poor mental health, and that gambling addiction can create a cycle of debt that can also have a significant impact on mental health and wellbeing. In extreme cases it may lead to thoughts of suicide.
The Government committed to addressing suicide risk and gambling in the latest progress report to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the Cross-Government Suicide Prevention Workplan, which were published in January 2019