Written by Paul Liddell, Chair of Play Scotland
This week, I attended the launch of a report by the Raising the Nation Play Commission in the House of Lords: “Everything to Play For – A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England can play“. Hosted by Baroness Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner in England and Executive Chair of Centre for Young Lives, this large scale event was a real milestone for play in England. As Chair or Play Scotland, it was good to connect with so many new organisations who have been pushing for play to get the prominence it has in Scotland.
The report itself has 10 key recommendations, not least of which is a call for a new, cross-departmental National Play Strategy for England. Having succeeded in this in Scotland, with a new Scottish Play Strategy recently launched, Play Scotland knows firsthand how important this is in ensuring children are considered in decision making. A national ban on “No Ball Games” signs is also something Play Scotland have campaigned on and the report highlights this as a priority
At the event, Paul Linley (Chair of the Play Commission) called out the need to follow Scotland and push for the right to play to become enshrined in law. It is also great to see the recommendation for Play Sufficiency to be considered in planning law, in line with what we now have north of the border. Paul talked very well about how it has never been harder for children in England to play and this report was a key step in ensuring play is valued everywhere and not just somewhere.
We also heard from Chris Boardman, former Olympic cyclist and current Chair of Sport England. His focus was on ensuring streets are safer for children to play. That policy was dominated by cars, which pushes away play. Play is symptomatic of a healthy society and while there is a way to go, this reports sets out the steps of what it would take to get to where England needs to be.
Overall, it was heartening to see how much we have achieved in Scotland and for those in England to seek to align with so many of our successes. Play Scotland is proud to have supported some of the research behind the report and we will continue to collaborate to ensure children are supported to play right across the UK.
You can read the report at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ckOdG4Rf7tdUUv4B2P6C7BoP5ei_ferT/view
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