Statement by MS, Minister for Mental
Health and Wellbeing
I am updating members about how the Welsh Government will use
Wales' share of the new statutory gambling industry levy to
reduce gambling-related harms.
The UK Government confirmed its intention to introduce a new levy
on the gambling industry to tackle gambling harm last year. We
strongly supported this as it is an important step to ensure work
to tackle gambling harm is sustainably funded and independent of
the gambling industry.
The levy came into effect on 6 April and is expected to raise
around £100m a year. Operators will be required to make their
first payments by 1 October. The funds will be allocated to
research, prevention, and treatment services. Wales' share
equates to approximately £5m per year.
I have agreed, with my counterparts in the Scottish and UK
Governments, that the research element of this funding,
approximately £20m per year across Great Britain, will be
overseen by UKRI as the lead research commissioner. UKRI will
work closely with Welsh Government officials and Public Health
Wales to ensure Wales' interests are represented fairly and
robustly.
The first major opportunities under the research strand were
announced by UKRI on 26 June: UKRI Gambling Harms Research
Coordination Centre (GHRCC) – UKRI/ Gambling harms research and
innovation partnerships – UKRI
In relation to prevention and treatment, I have appointed Public
Health Wales as the Lead Prevention Coordinator for Wales and NHS
Wales Performance and Improvement as the Lead Treatment
Coordinator for Wales. Each organisation brings appropriate
expertise and authority to lead these vital areas of work.
To ensure transparency and accountability around the levy, the UK
Government has established a Gambling Levy Programme Board for
the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments to monitor the health and
impact of the levy system and an advisory group structure to
provide informal advice to lead commissioning bodies for each of
the three funding streams. Ministers from UK, Scottish and Welsh
governments will attend the board annually, with ongoing
representation at quarterly meetings by senior officials.
NHS Wales Performance and Improvement and Public Health Wales
have started to develop treatment pathways and interventions,
including appropriate prevention opportunities.
One of the consequences of the UK Government's decision to
introduce a levy is that GambleAware will no longer be funded in
the same way. I know some Welsh organisations, such as Adferiad
and Ara, receive some of their funding through GambleAware to
provide services to people suffering from gambling-related harm.
NHS England, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government
have decided to make a maximum of £11m of levy funding from the
treatment allocation across all three nations to support
GambleAware in 2025-26 through the transition.
This transitional funding for GambleAware from the levy will only
apply this financial year to ensure system stability. It does not
represent a continued funding commitment to GambleAware.
It will, however, help to reduce disruption to the National
Gambling Support Network (NGSN) and ensure access to treatment
services continues while the commissioning leads put in place new
arrangements. This will be a priority for NHS Wales Performance
and Improvement and Public Health Wales.
I will provide a further update to Members in the autumn.
