As both health and prisons are devolved matters, this is for the Northern Ireland Executive to consider.

The Government is acutely aware of the impact harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families, and is committed to strengthening protections for those at risk. We are also committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed.

As part of the 2025 Budget, the Treasury announced that the Gambling Commission will receive an additional £26 million across three years to increase investment, resources and capacity to tackle the illegal market. In addition, the Crime and Policing Act, which received Royal Assent in April 2026, enables the Commission to apply for new powers to obtain orders to suspend internet protocol addresses and internet domain names linked to illegal gambling.

We launched the Illegal Gambling Taskforce at the beginning of this year which brings together a wide range of stakeholders to take action against the illegal market. We are also consulting on banning physical manifestations of unlicensed gambling sponsorships and advertising in Great Britain across all sectors, including sport.

The Prime Minister has called for the whole of government to support his ambition to end rough sleeping, and we are working with all departments to ensure that no one has to sleep rough this winter.

This urgent drive will build on the work already underway through our National Plan to End Homelessness. That includes support for veterans, including an additional £12 million to vital homelessness services through the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme announced in November 2025.

We are also working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping can access the support they need, including addiction support. For 2026 to 2029, we have invested £185 million into the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment programme that will continue to fund evidence-based drug and alcohol treatment and wraparound support for people experiencing sleeping rough, or at risk.

Our new £442 million Rough Sleeping Programme is funding local areas to expand accommodation provision for people sleeping rough, alongside tailored support to address the issues that contribute to rough sleeping. This may include accommodation, support to access mental health or substance use services, help to access employment or training, help to access or maintain accommodation, or other support tailored to individual circumstances.

We are committed to working with industry to strengthen protections and reduce the risk of gambling-related harm. Since the election we have worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Gambling Commission, to raise standards. We consistently monitor the effectiveness of both recent reforms and voluntary actions.

These changes have included, but are not limited to: the introduction of the statutory gambling levy; increased customer choice regarding marketing; the banning of harmful and confusing incentives; strengthened rules around advertising on social media; and the upcoming, careful implementation of financial risk checks. The gambling industry also enforces the Industry Group for Socially Responsible Gambling’s Code for Socially Responsible Advertising (IGRG Code) which includes a number of rules designed to ensure advertising is socially responsible. In land-based venues, an agreement has been reached to strengthen the self-exclusion process, and operators have announced facial recognition trials to support the identification of self-excluded individuals. Together, these measures boost fairness, increase openness, and strengthen protections to prevent excessive or harmful gambling and improve outcomes for the public.

As the statutory regulator for gambling in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission has a responsibility to ensure that gambling businesses are compliant in making gambling safer and fairer.

The Department and NHS England have been working on a drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce transformation programme since 2022. The 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, published in 2024, sets out actions for the Government, commissioners, and employers between 2024 and 2034.

This work is informed by three national workforce censuses and an Ipsos staff survey to identify where national and local action is most needed. The latest workforce census showed the workforce increased from 11,270 in 2022 to 13,103 in 2024.

Relevant initiatives have been implemented, including to improve the skills mix, and strengthen clinical supervision and governance, enabling training for currently unregulated roles, and increasing access to regulated professional training.

In March 2025, the Department and NHS England published the Capability framework for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, which sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for 15 core roles in the local authority-funded drug and alcohol treatment and recovery sector.

The programme is also supporting workforce planning and pipeline development for regulated professions. This includes work to support psychology training placements in drug and alcohol services, including through a toolkit developed to support Doctorate in Clinical Psychology placements in drug and alcohol services, and the development of an addiction psychiatry credential with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to help increase specialist addiction psychiatry capacity.

The Department has also funded the development of three national training curricula for drug and alcohol workers, children and young people’s drug and alcohol workers, and peer support workers.

The Department has commissioned a detailed scoping exercise, including engaging with relevant stakeholders, to establish if a national Centre for Addiction would be viable and if so, how it could be established and what its remit could be. This work is considering workforce needs, possible functions, delivery models, and risks. The findings will inform a future decision on whether and how to establish a centre.

The Department and NHS England have been working on a drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce transformation programme since 2022. The 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, published in 2024, sets out actions for the Government, commissioners, and employers between 2024 and 2034.

This work is informed by three national workforce censuses and an Ipsos staff survey to identify where national and local action is most needed. The latest workforce census showed the workforce increased from 11,270 in 2022 to 13,103 in 2024.

Relevant initiatives have been implemented, including to improve the skills mix, and strengthen clinical supervision and governance, enabling training for currently unregulated roles, and increasing access to regulated professional training.

In March 2025, the Department and NHS England published the Capability framework for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, which sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for 15 core roles in the local authority-funded drug and alcohol treatment and recovery sector.

The programme is also supporting workforce planning and pipeline development for regulated professions. This includes work to support psychology training placements in drug and alcohol services, including through a toolkit developed to support Doctorate in Clinical Psychology placements in drug and alcohol services, and the development of an addiction psychiatry credential with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to help increase specialist addiction psychiatry capacity.

The Department has also funded the development of three national training curricula for drug and alcohol workers, children and young people’s drug and alcohol workers, and peer support workers.

The Department has commissioned a detailed scoping exercise, including engaging with relevant stakeholders, to establish if a national Centre for Addiction would be viable and if so, how it could be established and what its remit could be. This work is considering workforce needs, possible functions, delivery models, and risks. The findings will inform a future decision on whether and how to establish a centre.

The Department and NHS England have been working on a drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce transformation programme since 2022. The 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, published in 2024, sets out actions for the Government, commissioners, and employers between 2024 and 2034.

This work is informed by three national workforce censuses and an Ipsos staff survey to identify where national and local action is most needed. The latest workforce census showed the workforce increased from 11,270 in 2022 to 13,103 in 2024.

Relevant initiatives have been implemented, including to improve the skills mix, and strengthen clinical supervision and governance, enabling training for currently unregulated roles, and increasing access to regulated professional training.

In March 2025, the Department and NHS England published the Capability framework for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce, which sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for 15 core roles in the local authority-funded drug and alcohol treatment and recovery sector.

The programme is also supporting workforce planning and pipeline development for regulated professions. This includes work to support psychology training placements in drug and alcohol services, including through a toolkit developed to support Doctorate in Clinical Psychology placements in drug and alcohol services, and the development of an addiction psychiatry credential with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to help increase specialist addiction psychiatry capacity.

The Department has also funded the development of three national training curricula for drug and alcohol workers, children and young people’s drug and alcohol workers, and peer support workers.

The Department has commissioned a detailed scoping exercise, including engaging with relevant stakeholders, to establish if a national Centre for Addiction would be viable and if so, how it could be established and what its remit could be. This work is considering workforce needs, possible functions, delivery models, and risks. The findings will inform a future decision on whether and how to establish a centre.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. As a condition of the Public Health Grant, local authorities are responsible for improving the uptake of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol treatment services, based on an assessment of local need and a plan which has been developed with local health and criminal justice partners.

The Government’s estimates of dependence for opioids and crack, and for alcohol, have been used to produce estimates of unmet need, which are added to the Local Outcomes Framework, i.e. national priority outcomes delivered at the local level. Over the next three years, through the Public Health Grant, we will provide local authorities with a minimum of £3.4 billion of ringfenced funding for drug and alcohol prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Key elements of the Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG) programme are already being rolled out, including the provision of over £10 million for the Addiction Research Leadership Programme to create a UK-wide pipeline of future research leaders, and £20 million for the ‘AHG: Catalysing Innovation Awards’ to accelerate new pharmaceutical, medical technology, and digital solutions. This work will strengthen our evidence base, and generate new treatments and recovery approaches to improve healthcare outcomes.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services as part of their public health responsibilities. As a condition of the Public Health Grant, local authorities are responsible for improving the uptake of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol treatment services, based on an assessment of local need and a plan which has been developed with local health and criminal justice partners.

The Government’s estimates of dependence for opioids and crack, and for alcohol, have been used to produce estimates of unmet need, which are added to the Local Outcomes Framework, i.e. national priority outcomes delivered at the local level. Over the next three years, through the Public Health Grant, we will provide local authorities with a minimum of £3.4 billion of ringfenced funding for drug and alcohol prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Key elements of the Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG) programme are already being rolled out, including the provision of over £10 million for the Addiction Research Leadership Programme to create a UK-wide pipeline of future research leaders, and £20 million for the ‘AHG: Catalysing Innovation Awards’ to accelerate new pharmaceutical, medical technology, and digital solutions. This work will strengthen our evidence base, and generate new treatments and recovery approaches to improve healthcare outcomes.

Over the last 18 months, NHS England has been taking active steps to improve drug and alcohol services across the entire adult prison estate to address Dame Carol Black’s recommendations in her internal review and increase the provision of treatment and recovery services.

In 2025/26, we secured an additional £7 million, recurrently, to increase the provision of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. This funding is ringfenced to increase availability of long-acting buprenorphine, peer support, targeted psychosocial interventions delivered in Incentivised Substance Free Living wings and deliver targeted psychosocial interventions to address synthetic drug use.

Since funding was released in August 2025, every region has reported an increased offer into these key priorities, and some regions have reported a positive impact into the number of patients being under the influence.

Additionally, we have been working extensively with stakeholders across the health and justice sector, including providers, commissioners, patients, prison leaders and policy leads, to revise the national substance misuse service specification to improve consistency in design, delivery and oversight. A key change includes renaming the custodial services to Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery services, aligning to community and HM Prison and Probation Service terminology and reducing stigma attached to addiction. The revised spec is progressing towards the final stages ahead of publication later this year.

The Department has not engaged with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency or the Gambling Commission regarding this matter. However, DCMS officials worked with the Gambling Commission to develop their Customer Interaction guidance and vulnerability statement, which sets out how operators should support vulnerable customers, including those who are taking medication which may increase risk-taking.

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that issue—it is an important angle on a problem of which we are all aware, but in a slightly different context, given some of the modern features that are available on the devices in our pockets. I will look into it further and pick it up with him in due course.

Particularly for people with a very low body mass index or an eating disorder, the use of app-based fitness classes for hours of ultra-high-intensity exercise every day can lead to addiction. When I wrote to one brand to ask about implementing access limitation tools in its app, it was dismissive. Will the Secretary of State consider reviewing whether such tools could be mandated to support those with eating disorders?

As part of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, the Government has now introduced Gambling Impact Assessments (GIAs). While the introduction of GIAs will strengthen local authorities’ powers to shape their streets and neighbourhoods, including the ability to put a presumption in place against the opening of new gambling premises, they will not be applied retrospectively and existing premises, including bookmakers, will not be affected.

The Government recognises that land-based gambling typically has a lower risk profile than online gambling. The Government is continuing to work with the Gambling Commission and the sector to strengthen player protections across the sector, both online and in physical venues, to ensure that people can continue to enjoy gambling, without the harms that can sometimes ensue.

The Government is acutely aware of the impact that gambling harm can have on individuals, families and communities. We therefore consider a wide range of evidence when assessing the impact of gambling regulation on those experiencing harm.