Proposed Children and Families (Wales) Measure
Consultation response
CF2 - Play Wales
Play Wales is the national organisation for children's play. We are the charity that provides advice, support and guidance for all those in Wales who have a concern or responsibility for any environment where children and young people might play. We uphold children's right to play. Freely chosen play is critically important in the healthy development of all children and young people. All children are entitled to quality play provision within their communities and we work strategically to achieve this goal on their behalf. We have been closely involved in drafting the national Play Policy (2002) and in providing recommendations for Play in Wales (2006) the Welsh Assembly Play Policy Implementation Plan. Play Wales’ membership is drawn from a wide constituency including local and regional voluntary organisations, local authorities and individuals, employers and playworkers.
Play Wales welcomes the opportunity to give evidence on the general principles of the Proposed Children and Families (Wales) Measure to the National Assembly for Wales’ Legislation Committee No. 2.
In order that we might focus on the issue of greatest concern to children and to our constituency, we will limit our comments to the application of the propose Measure in respect of children’s play, particularly:
Part 4
Miscellaneous and General
Miscellaneous
Section 60. Local Authority duties in respect of play opportunities for children.
Consultation Questions
1. Is there a need for a proposed Measure to deliver the stated objectives of:
contributing to the eradication of child poverty;
making provision in relation to child minding and day care for children;
establishing integrated family support teams to provide services to families where there are children who need to be, or who are, looked after, and this is related to needs on the part of their adult carers (such as dependence on drugs and alcohol); and
making provision for play opportunities for children?
Yes.
The Assembly Government has articulated the importance of play in its Play Policy (2002), in which it also made a commitment 'to ensure that all children have access to rich stimulating environments’ and 'to encourage the creation of high quality 'compensatory’ play provision that is appropriate, local, stimulating and challenging for all children in Wales.’
We have at least 50 years of experience of play provision in Wales that tells us that provision for children’s play tends to be a 'Cinderella’ compared to other services within our communities. Despite being of the utmost importance to children, play provision is often paid scant regard. There is a common perception that play provision is of little consequence as compared with say, sport or education, perhaps because it’s a service whose chief importance is to the young rather than to those of voting age, perhaps because children’s play is seen by many decision makers as inconsequential or simply a vehicle to achieve other ends, and perhaps because there is a general lack of understanding of its diverse nature and profound importance to children’s health and well-being.
We know that over the past 50 years the outside environment, both in reality and perception, has changed immeasurably. In many communities places where children used to play have been appropriated for housing and development. The roads are now full of cars that, if not being driven at child-threatening speeds, are parked head to toe in any available space and regarded by their owners as much too vulnerable and valuable to allow children playing near them.
Furthermore over the past 20 years we have seen the prevalence of a perception that children are at greater risk of accident and abduction than hitherto. This perception has been inadvertently fostered by the introduction of the 'no win no fee’ 'there is always someone to blame’ culture that has arisen from the legislation that opened the doors to 'ambulance chasing, compensation companies’. This perception is also fuelled by unqualified blanket media reporting on individual cases of harm to children, and a generally negative media portrayal of children and young people and crime.
These developments (among others) factored with a profound misunderstanding of the implications of the Health and Safety Act (1974) has resulted in a culture that sees play as more of a problem than a benefit. Which has contributed to an increasingly widely held perception that playing outside is no longer legitimate, or indeed a sign of negligence.
As a society of adults we have failed to value and promote children’s play and this proposed measure will perhaps divert us from the direction that is shown to have failed for children and their health and well-being, towards positive outcomes for the some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
2. How will the proposed Measure change what organisations do currently and what impact will any such changes have?
It may be conjectured that the proposed Measure, particularly 'Local Authority duties in respect of play opportunities’ will result in the more effective use of resources. Very often we have witnessed significant investments being made without adequate or informed evaluation of the diversity of local play needs and without due regard to 'play value’ for money. Because 'play’ is often seen as a term that is open to wide interpretation (particularly when coupled with 'recreation’) we have also witnessed resources for play being diverted to meet other needs.
The elegance of this aspect of the Measure is that it is worded appropriately to ensure that the environment in its entirety be considered for its contribution to supporting children’s play. We are of the opinion that all public space should be 'playable’ space, since children are members of the public too. This may not need significant investment, but simply signals to both children and adults that children are welcome to play in a place.
At present there is no external incentive for local authorities to consider children’s play in a strategic context. This is unfortunate because when they are asked, children tell us that play provision is the most important service to them. Play provision is also one of the most cross cutting in respect of the work of various local authority departments, for example, social services, leisure, education, health promotion, housing, and highways.
For example the impact of the work of the:
planning departments - on securing or not, play space for children;
highways departments - on introducing (or not) measures that calm traffic speed or filter traffic, that contribute to creating communities where there is a shared perception of safety for pedestrians, particularly children;
education departments - in affecting children’s experience and opportunities to play both in school, and out of school, availability of school grounds for wider community use. The co-ordination of staff in a youth service that may often, in addition to its core function, provide for children’s play needs;
leisure departments - which have often had the lead role on children’s play provision ( both fixed equipment and staffed provision).
This is significant, the local authority represents the agency that can have the greatest impact upon children’s play and in this respect it is our contention that they have signally failed in a moral duty. Accordingly legislation is required.
Over the past 10 years, we have seen County Councils foregoing their responsibility for providing for children’s play, passing the responsibility to District and Community Councils. This in itself is not necessarily an unwelcome development; play provision is best supported locally, however the transfer in responsibility has been undertaken, not as a strategic improvement for children, but as a cost cutting measure. The transfer of responsibility for the provision has not been supported financially or with the provision of the necessary expertise and knowledge to maintain play provision.
In the proposed Measure, the duty for 'a local authority to secure sufficient play opportunities . . .’ should continue to support the localisation of planning and supplying play provision. At the same time it must require a local authority to provide appropriate support to ensure a sufficiency that encompasses quality as well as quantity.
There is the potential for widespread benefits to accrue from the implementation of the proposed Measure. As proposed, the Measure supports access to play opportunities for all children, underpinning the stated policy aim of universal provision. The benefits of play provision for children and the communities in which they live are widely documented in many national strategies and initiatives. This measure will go some way in closing the policy gap; translating the commitment and sentiment of national policy into implementation at local level, providing meaningful experiences for children in their own communities.
3. Are the sections of the proposed Measure appropriate in terms of achieving the stated objectives?
In considering this question, consultees may wish to consider the nature of the provisions in the proposed Measure that:
(a) contribute to the eradication of child poverty (sections 1-12), particularly in relation to:
the broad aims for eradicating child poverty and preparation of strategies (sections 1-5)
services to tackle child poverty (sections 6-9).
(b) make provision in relation to child minding and day care for children (sections 13-48), particularly in relation to:
registration provisions (sections 13-27);
emergency protection provisions (sections 28-29);
safeguards and disqualification provisions (sections 30-33);
inspection provisions (section 34-35);
offences and penalty provisions (sections 38-43).
(c) establish integrated family support teams (sections 49-58), particularly in relation to:
teams (sections 49-52;
boards (sections 53-54);
annual reports (section 56).
(d) secure sufficient play opportunities for children (section 60); and
(e) ensure participation of children in local authority decision making (section 61).
In respect of 3(d) (section 60): Yes and No
Yes in that the requirement to assess sufficiency is a strategically appropriate starting point.
The requirement to secure sufficiency is coherent with the existing requirement of the Children Act (2004) for a local authority to co-operate in the provision of play opportunities. It does not raise an expectation that a local authority be the sole provider of play opportunities; rather that it will have responsibility for strategic development, location, nature and quality of provision.
We commend the inclusion of a requirement to make a sufficiency audit that will include consideration of both quantity and quality of provision. If supported by supplementary guidance and standards that embodies current theory and best practice, the audit should be fit for the purpose it is intended.
However, there is a key aspect of the proposed Measure that if retained has the capacity to negate the intent of the stated objective in respect of play opportunities for children.
The inclusion of Section 60 para. (6) "play” includes any recreational activity.” has the potential to bring about a significant unintended consequence. "Recreation” can be variously defined as, for example, sport or shopping. It follows that if the definition is retained in its present form, a local authority might argue that it can satisfy sufficiency by providing sports fields and shopping malls.
For the purposes of this proposed Measure the Assembly Government has already defined play in its Play Policy (2002) as:
. . . . children’s behaviour which is freely chosen, personally
directed and intrinsically motivated. . . performed for no external
goal or reward,
'Play’ is a complex concept to define - it presents as many challenges as to define 'love’. Accordingly it is crucial to restrict the breadth of any definition within this proposed Measure so as to make sure that valuable resources are not inappropriately diverted.
4. What are the potential barriers to implementing the provisions of the proposed Measure (if any) and does the proposed Measure take account of them?
For example, is there capacity to implement the new duties in the proposed Measure through the existing programmes of Cymorth and Flying Start, and to undertake the work of the new Integrated Family Support Teams?
The proposed duties to be conferred on local authorities in respect of children’s play are more widely applicable to all aspects of local authority responsibility, not simply those presently funded by Cymorth.
Significant RSG resources are currently committed to services that impact on children’s play and core funded play provision. As a result of the implementation of this Measure it might be anticipated that these resources will be more effectively committed, in addition to Cymorth monies when they might in future be included with the RSG.
One might conjecture that local authorities will argue that they have inadequate resources to undertake the proposed 'new’ sufficiency audits. However that will beg the question as to how they currently ensure that present RSG and Cymorth resources for children’s play are used to best effect.
5. What are the financial implications of the proposed Measure for organisations, if any? In answering this question you may wish to consider Section 2 of the Explanatory Memorandum (the Regulatory Impact Assessment), which estimates the costs and benefits of implementation of the proposed Measure.
It might be conjectured that play opportunity sufficiency audits made by local authorities might provide evidence that provision is insufficient. It follows that in order for a local authority to meet requirements an additional financial burden might be placed upon resources. However it would be our contention, based on our knowledge and understanding of both the sector and the range of services currently provided by local authorities that impact upon children’s play, that much could be done through the reallocation of existing resources to meet newly identified priorities. It is not so much about spending new money but spending old money more effectively and efficiently.
It is pertinent to note that the duty to cooperate as conferred on local authorities under the Children Act (2004) could effect efficiency savings and increase effective use of resources. However there is some evidence that some local authorities have not amended their working practice to reflect this duty to co-operate.
It may be conjectured that the adoption of this proposed Measure might result in an increased demand for information and guidance from organisations with recognised expertise such as Play Wales. This being the case there may be some increase over and above current capacity to respond.
6. Are there any other comments you wish to make about specific sections of the proposed Measure?
This proposed measure is a ground breaking development that represent a paradigm shift by Government, recognising as it does that many children in Wales in the 21st century are suffering a poverty of play experience.
It represents a significant step in securing children’s right to play as conferred by Article 31 of the UNCRC.
Mike Greenaway
Director
22nd April 2009
