A new UK Government took
office on 11 May and is in the process of deciding its position on
a number of policies and government strategies . As a result the
content of this page may not reflect current Government
policy. All statutory guidance and legislation referred to
continues to reflect the current legal position unless indicated
otherwise.
With the publication of the national Play Strategy
in December 2008 by the previous government, children’s play
emerged as an area of consideration for government policy.
The public enquiry following the tragic abuse and murder of
Victoria Climbie in 2000 led to major changes in child protection
policy in the UK, including revised government policy in the Every
Child Matters initiative and the Children’s Plan.
Every Child Matters was launched in 2003 and aims for every
child in the UK, whatever their background or circumstances,
to:
- be healthy
- stay safe
- enjoy and achieve
- make a positive contribution
- achieve economic well-being.
The five Every Child Matters outcomes have become underpinning
principles for policies effecting children.
Children Act 2004
The Children Act 2004 sets out the legal underpinning for
implementing Every Child Matters, and led to The Children’s Plan in
2007.
The Children's Plan sets out a vision for the UK to become the
best place in the world for children to grow up. One of its aims is
to ensure that children have safe, interesting and exciting things
to do outside school.
National Play Strategy
The national Play Strategy, published in 2008, reflects the core
principles of the Children’s Plan.
It was the first government policy focused solely on play
and set out the previous government’s commitments to:
- invest £235m to deliver 3500 new or refurbished play areas,
plus 30 staffed adventure playgrounds, by 2011
- put children and young people’s views at the heart of the
design and development of local neighbourhoods – and their
consultation as a central requirement of new investment in local
play areas
- help local authorities deliver the exciting play spaces that
children want
- inform parents and children about local play opportunities
- improve access for disabled children so that they can benefit
fully from our investment in play facilities
- put in place clear requirements on school capital programmes
around outdoor play and recreational spaces
- put children’s play needs at the heart of new residential and
social housing developments
- ensure children are safe when they travel around and play in
their neighbourhoods, including by working with the third sector
and community policing to improve the supervision of children
playing
- invest £1.5 million in third sector-run adventure playgrounds
and provide funding to help build third sector infrastructure
- introduce a new national indicator for play from 2009 for local
authorities, which will measure children’s satisfaction with parks
and play areas.
The Play Strategy’s objectives are to:
Short term: 2008-2011
- increase the availability of safe, exciting and inclusive play
facilities
Medium term: 2011-2014
- support Children’s Trusts to build communities that value
children and parents’ demands for safe and well-maintained places
to play
- help the wider local authority, health services and other
partners recognise the importance of play
Long term: 2014-2020
- allow all children and young people to be able to access
world-class play and recreation spaces near where they live, within
child-friendly communities
- for Children’s Trusts to lead the delivery of excellent local
play provision, with consideration of children’s needs embedded in
the planning of the wider Local Strategic Partnership.
Play Shaper
- Play Shaper is one of the commitments in the Play Strategy, and
provides a way for local authorities to engage their wider partners
in creating child-friendly communities.
- In early 2010, the government is publishing Embedding the Play
Strategy, which explains how Children’s Trusts and their partners
can work within existing structures such as the Local Strategic
Partnership and Local Development Frameworks, to make children’s
pay a priority. Active play also contributes to
cross-government strategies such as Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives
published in 2008, which aims to increase the amount of physical
activity taken by the public and reverse the rising tide of obesity
by helping people to maintain a healthy weight. A primary focus of
this strategy is children.
Making these plans a reality requires close collaboration at a
local level. This inter-agency approach, led by the local
authority, is set out in Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous
Communities which allows for the creation of Local Strategic
Partnerships to plan for the specific needs of a community.
Bringing many of these plans together is the Statutory Guidance
to Children’s Trusts released in 2008. Children’s Trusts have a
responsibility to produce a Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP)
for their area and this should include provision for play. When
developing the CYPP, the Children’s Trust is required to cooperate
widely with other partners within the Local Strategic Partnership
including highways, housing, transport and planning.
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