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Chapter 6: Sustaining and embedding play Introduction 6.1 6.2 6.3 Play has historically had a low profile in many local services. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport publication Time for Play (2006) 34 recommended that local authorities and other local strategic partners give play a much greater profile and priority in future than they had in the past. Government wants the investment it is making to have a lasting impact and this can only be achieved through play provision being shared and managed by communities and local authorities and their strategic partners. Play needs greater prioritisation locally, the skills and capacity of the play workforce need to be increased, and play provision included in local authority policies and performance management. This embedding of play in local policy has already begun. In response to the BIG Lottery Children’s Play initiative, nearly all unitary and district authorities now have a play strategy in place 35 . This chapter sets out our proposals for ensuring this momentum continues, and that play is prioritised at a local level, and many local areas already offer a variety of exciting places for children to play. Vision 6.4 We propose to sustain and embed play by: a. introducing a play indicator to the national indicator set to encourage all authorities to prioritise delivery of better play opportunities b. using our new funding to drive high-level planning and partnerships on play locally, including the routine involvement of communities; c. recognising play as an element of the responsibilities of Children’s Trusts, Directors of Children’s Services, and local authority Chief Executives, and highlighting how local strategic partnerships can support play; d. investigating how Primary Care Trusts can contribute to the play agenda; 34 http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6113A6E7-458B-4D58-894D-9AAA62CACD01/0/DCMSPlayReport.pdf 35 Guidance to local authorities on preparing strategies for improving children’s play opportunities was published by PlayEngland in 2006. See http:// www.playengland.org.uk/downloads/pdf/planning_for_play.pdf. Fair Play: A consultation on the play strategy 51
e. clarifying the role of Government Offices; f. professionalising the play workforce; and g. working with play pathfinders to test potential solutions to barriers to play. Play indicator 6.5 6.6 From June 2008, the priorities for a local area agreed between central government and a local area will be set out in its Local Area Agreement (LAA). These will replace the existing national performance frameworks under which local authorities operate. Each area will agree up to 35 targets with government as part of their LAA, drawn from a set of 198 indicators – the national indicator set (NIS). The only way of measuring national priorities will be through use of this indicator set. We are making it clear to local authorities that play is now a national priority by building it into this new performance framework, using children’s views as the driver for local delivery and from April 2009 an indicator will be included on what children think about the parks and play areas in their local area. Information for the indicator is collected via the TellUs Survey which already provides data for a number of indicators for the national indicator set. The survey provides robust data at a local level, collected from a sample of children in years 6, 8 and 10. There are a number of other indicators in the NIS where a focus on play could help with delivery. For example, active play will be a significant contributor to the delivery of the two indicators on child obesity, which are central to tackling that issue. Play in communities can also support public satisfaction with local areas (NI15). Where local authorities choose such indicators for their LAA it will clearly be important to think carefully in the context of delivery planning about how play opportunities can support performance, and to support and develop the local play agenda accordingly. New funding to drive high-level planning and partnerships 6.7 6.8 As we distribute our new play funding, we will look for authorities to show how they will embed this play investment programme into a broad, top-tier, strategic approach to planning and commissioning for play. We expect this to draw on existing unitary and district play strategies and to feed into Children and Young People’s Plans, sustainable community strategies, and to be linked to local spatial planning frameworks and relevant strategies on community safety and transport. We expect this top-tier strategic approach on play to take account of: •l the need to ensure access to play for children across the area, with a focus on those most in need of better play environments and opportunities; •l best practice on innovative design and production for play site equipment and landscaping; •l the safety of children getting to and playing on new play sites; and •l enabling the full involvement of local communities, including children and parents. 52 Fair Play: A consultation on the play strategy
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Fair Play A consultation on the pla
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Foreword Foreword by the Secretarie
Page 6 and 7: Executive summary 1. 2. Strong, vib
Page 8 and 9: Children’s Play initiative to sup
Page 10 and 11: 21. We propose to empower communiti
Page 12 and 13: space design, and that tackling thi
Page 14 and 15: Chapter 1: What children and famili
Page 16 and 17: The barriers to play Accessibility
Page 18 and 19: Negative perceptions “There are t
Page 20 and 21: published an updated version of the
Page 22 and 23: and sign-post good local play oppor
Page 24 and 25: of play facilities can be found in
Page 26 and 27: Case study - Dudley Children’s Tr
Page 28 and 29: learning, where imprisoned parents
Page 30 and 31: 2.44 Making play areas accessible i
Page 32 and 33: d. provide clear guidance on develo
Page 34 and 35: Interesting and fun places to play
Page 36 and 37: of the site. We will use our nation
Page 38 and 39: Chapter 4: Playing safely Introduct
Page 40 and 41: •l provide additional investment
Page 42 and 43: 4.18 Since 1999, local authorities
Page 44 and 45: and to identify the difficulties of
Page 46 and 47: consultation, as well as through wo
Page 48 and 49: 5.5 We propose to empower communiti
Page 50 and 51: (CABE) and CLG to develop a dialogu
Page 52 and 53: Case Study - The Methleys Home Zone
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Page 58 and 59: 6.9 6.10 As play sits outside of ch
Page 60 and 61: •l include play in priorities dis
Page 62 and 63: Play pathfinders 6.22 We will work
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Page 68 and 69: Annex 2: What government has alread
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Page 72 and 73: in residential areas. In many cases
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Page 76 and 77: 50. The arts sector also provides a
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