Speeches by Coleman.

“Do you see a tension in Government between DCMS, as the representative of the industry, which contributes a great deal in taxation, and the Department of Health and Social Care, which is trying to help people with problem gambling? Is there a tension there when it comes to supporting research through, for example, the …”

“I recently wrote to the Gambling Commission on behalf of a constituent. The response, which was from the deputy chief executive, said: “The commission cannot consider historical complaints—events that occurred more than two years ago.” There seems to be some dispute between what you are saying and what was said there.”

“That is not what the deputy chief executive said. She said that it cannot consider historical complaints. She was not contextualising it; it was a straightforward statement. Why would she make that statement, when you are contextualising it?”

“If a company has not behaved properly, you cannot look back more than two years: is that what you are saying?”

“When you talk about the advisory board, it is very interesting. We have the gambling levy programme board, on which the Department of Health and Social Care will sit, and you will also have the advisory group to the board. Presumably, you think that the Department of Health and Social Care should sit on that, but shoul…”

“When you say “no harm”, would you actively advocate for it?”

“Andrew, would you also expect to see yourselves or public health directors represented directly in the gambling levy advisory group?”

“My question to you is not perhaps asking for such a broad, political answer. Do you think it would be helpful for the advisory group to have clear, direct representation from public health professionals, such as your organisation or the Association of Directors of Public Health?”

“Directors of public health, for example.”

“I will ask, if I may, about the third sector. Most of the support and treatment happens outside the NHS. What do you think the third sector’s role will be in the new commissioning system, Professor?”

“In terms of sharing, all that will require funding. I think we have touched on ringfencing, but how can we ensure that funding, whether it is through the public health grant or whatever the NHS does, is ringfenced to tackle problem gambling?”

“When it comes down to directors of public health in the local authorities, how can we be sure that they will be implementing measures to support problem gamblers, using money from that?”

“When you say “accountability”, who will be holding the commissioning services accountable? Will they be reporting regularly? What happens with the 150-odd local authorities across the country when it comes to public health interventions for gambling problems?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“What do you think would be best for people suffering from problem gambling?”

“I was struck earlier by the fact that GambleAware was effectively vetoing certain questions, or not allowing them to be asked, in research that was being undertaken. Who will be ensuring that the research is wholly independent? There is a bit of tension between the industry representative and the health representative …”

“I am going to leave it there. Thank you.”

“We have amazing doctors and amazing nurses working in the NHS, but do they genuinely think, in their guts, that there is value to working collaboratively and almost on an authentically equal basis with people in social care, the voluntary sector and others? Will they not always say, “We’ll let you work with us”, withou…”

“Okay. I am not going to ask you that, Nick; I am going to ask you something else, because I guess you are just going to say what Siva said. You all have huge experience, which is fascinating to listen to. One of the biggest challenges is doing more with less. We always talk about NHS 10-year plans. However, we have tal…”

“I am not just talking about specialised commissioning, which is about 150 different conditions, but about highly specialised, which is about 80 of those. If you are treating fewer than 500 people a year for a very complex disease, how can you devolve that locally?”