Further to OQ57596 asked in Plenary on 9 February 2022, what discussions has the Minister had with the Deputy Minister for Social Services regarding playgrounds in the community for children and young people?
The Deputy Minister for Social Services and I meet regularly to discuss matters affecting all children and young people.
Under section 11 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010, every local authority will be submitting their 2022 Play Sufficiency Assessments for review by the Deputy Minister for Social Services.
As part of the statutory guidance, Wales: A Play Friendly Country, Matter B: “The Local Authority should aim to offer play opportunities that are inclusive and encourage all children to play and meet together if they wish to. It should recognise that there may be barriers for some children in taking part in the range of play opportunities in their area. This could be due to disability/impairment; children’s own communities’ cultural values or other environmental or attitudinal factors.”
To support local authorities to re-build the space for children and young people to play and support their physical, emotional and social needs, the Deputy Minister for Social Services has invested £1m for a “Playworks Holiday Project”, £5m for a “Summer of Fun” and £20m for a “Winter of Wellbeing”. All of these programmes are required to be delivered inclusively and to take account of a range of different needs.
In addition to the £3m capital funded during the pandemic, £5m of capital funding has also been awarded to the local authorities to support the provision of play opportunities in line with the local authorities’ play sufficiency duty.