Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what comparative assessment her Department of made of the (a) social class (b) regional breakdown of National Lottery customers and the beneficiaries of lottery-funded grant programmes.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Gambling Commission, the regulator for the National Lottery and an arm’s-length body of DCMS, publishes annual data on National Lottery participation rates, including a breakdown by sex, age and region.
A regional breakdown of lottery grant recipients can be found on the National lottery grant database: https://nationallottery.dcms.gov.uk/data. Further analysis on funding is carried out by the twelve lottery distributing bodies, who are independent of Government.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many events gambling companies held in the Houses of Parliament for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Nick Smith
This information is not held in a format that would provide a reliable answer.
The House of Commons does not maintain a category for “gambling companies” or “gambling-related events” within its event management systems. Event bookings are recorded under the name of the sponsoring Member and the organising body. Any link to an industry may not be obvious from the organiser name and events are also arranged on behalf of third parties such as industry groups, representative bodies, charities, or All-Party Parliamentary Groups.
Gambling activity is not permitted at events on the parliamentary estate. Only small charitable raffles, which comply with the House’s internal guidance and the relevant legislation, may take place.
Catering Events data is proactively published and available on the Parliament website: Commons Catering events booking data - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 5 November to question 85955 on Betting: Excise Duties, if she will list the stakeholders she has met since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS Ministers have had regular meetings with a range of stakeholders about gambling taxation.
Ministerial meetings and engagements are published through quarterly transparency reports on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times gambling websites were visited by government system users in each year since 2015.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
All users are bound by an ICT Acceptable Usage Policy which states that users must not undertake any form of gambling on Cabinet Office IT. Any breach is managed through the Cabinet Office’s disciplinary process.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 3 November to question 84965 on Gambling, what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the statistical analysis in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities' report entitled The economic and social cost of harms associated with gambling in England published on 11 January 2023; and if she will exclude it from use within her Department.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The report that the Honourable Member refers to estimates the economic and social costs of gambling-related harm and provides a useful addition to our evidence base. As we have previously set out in a number of gambling-related impact assessments, we recognise that the report has limitations relating to both data availability and methodology, which means that the cost estimates may be under- or over-estimating the true cost of harm. This is true of many reports that try to estimate the cost of harm. However, we continue to consider this report in the context of the wider evidence base, and as such have no plans to exclude it from use in the Department.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November to question 84964 on Gambling, what steps she is taking to ensure that her department uses (a) impartial, and (b) accurate data, and commissions (i) impartial, and (ii) accurate data on gambling harms.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of using impartial, accurate and up-to-date statistics on gambling behaviour and harms. We are committed to ensuring that policy decisions are guided by the best available evidence from a broad range of reliable sources.
Developing impartial and accurate evidence on gambling-related harms is a key priority for the statutory gambling levy. That is why 20% of funding will be directed towards high-quality, independent research to fill gaps in the evidence base, which will be used to inform policy related to tackling gambling-related harm.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 28 October to question 83435, on Gambling: Taxation, if she will set out a timeline for publishing the Terms of Reference for the Levy Board and Advisory Group.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department intends to publish the Terms of Reference for the Gambling Levy Programme Board and the Gambling Levy Advisory Group before the end of the year.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people have been employed by the (a) Charity Commission and (b) Gambling Commission in each year since 2005.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information regarding employment levels at the Charity Commission and Gambling Commission is included in each public body’s annual report and accounts. These are published annually on GOV.UK.
The average number of employees in each year since 2005 is detailed in the following table:
Financial Year | Charity Commission Full-Time Equivalent | Gambling Commission Full-Time Equivalent |
2024-2025 | 440 | 416 |
2023-2024 | 471 | 373 |
2022-2023 | 471 | 336 |
2021-2022 | 464 | 310 |
2020-2021 | 418 | 335 |
2019-2020 | 373 | 340 |
2018-2019 | 332 | 342 |
2017-2018 | 301 | 322 |
2016-2017 | 312 | 307 |
2015-2016 | 310 | 290 |
2014-2015 | 319 | 268 |
2013-2014 | 310 | 224 |
2012-2013 | 320 | 211 |
2011-2012 | 375 | 211 |
2010-2011 | 442 | 220 |
2009-2010 | 483 | 230 |
2008-2009 | 488 | 238 |
2007-2008 | 493 | 222 |
2006-2007 | 514 | 175 |
2005-2006 | 540 | 102 |
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of people (a) suffering problem gambling and (b) at risk of problem gambling in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is acutely aware of the impact that harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families.
We recognise the importance of using impartial, accurate and up-to-date statistics, in the context of the wider evidence base, to inform policy and regulatory decisions. A number of studies have looked at this issue. This includes the Gambling Commission’s recent Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) 2024 annual report which highlighted how approximately 2.7% of adults in Great Britain had a score of 8+ on the Problem Gambling Severity Index.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with the Rt hon. Gordon Brown on gambling duties.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor discusses a variety of issues with stakeholders throughout the year, including the run up to Budget.