1. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government regarding legislating against problem gambling? OAQ52463

A cross-Government group of officials is tasked with developing a strategic approach to reducing gambling-related harm. The group is currently considering the recommendations in the chief medical officer’s annual report, and will co-ordinate action and identify new activity required, including any calls for further steps required at UK level.

I thank the Counsel General for that response. It's clear that many of us are concerned about the terminals in gambling shops and welcome the fact that the UK Government intends to limit the bet to £2 per wager on those terminals, but are disappointed that it will be at least two years before that is delivered. There are legislative tools in the hands of the Welsh Government, including using planning legislation. In the absence of action from the UK Government, would it be within the competence of this Parliament, and therefore the Government here, to use planning regulations to restrict the use of these terminals and to use our own legislation to restrict them?

Thank you for that supplementary question. As a Government, we work across portfolio to ensure that we can tackle this problem, which is a health problem and is very widespread. The chief medical officer is leading on much of that work. As, perhaps, the Member will know, a consultation is taking place as regards changes to the planning system, which will propose a change in the categorisation of betting shops from category A2, which means that you would have to have a planning application in order to change the use of that kind of building. If that proceeds, that will provide an opportunity for local government to tackle this on some level. Problems occur when the buildings reduce the number that come into our towns and villages. So, if that change is made, it will enable local authorities to design LDPs with this problem in mind. As regards the broader competence on gambling, as the Member will know, the Government and the Assembly have very restricted competence, which is limited to the numbers of these terminals rather than the maximum amount of the wager that you can have. There will be a two-year period of time before these changes come into force. The Government welcomes the fact that the change will actually limit the total that can be placed on a bet, but there are no plans to use the Government's limited powers in the interim.