Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 30 January 2019.
Thank you for raising this issue and for doing it consistently. I know that you've campaigned for this data to be gathered over many years and I'm pleased that it is now going to happen. The chief medical officer I think demonstrated very clearly in his annual report how gambling is becoming a public health issue that we do need to address in Wales. And to do so, obviously, we need good data and good statistics to inform us. We have arranged to include questions on gambling in the health behaviour in school-aged children and school health research network survey during the last year. That was a survey of children aged 11 to 16. That data is currently being collated and analysed and clearly that will help inform our way forward as well. Other sources of information will also be important.
So, officials are considering the findings of a report that was published this week on gambling and public health by Public Health Wales and Bangor University to help inform local and national actions that we can take here to prevent problem gambling and the harms that that causes across Wales. And also, we'll be keen to listen to important partners as well. So, on Monday of this week, the chief medical officer co-chaired, alongside the Gambling Commission, a round-table discussion involving a range of key stakeholders. Obviously, data from the national survey, then, will be used to allow us to track the progress that we can make in terms of combating harm from problem gambling in Wales.