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c/o Council for Disabled Children
National Children's Bureau
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE
tel +44 (0)20 7843 6318
fax +44 (0)20 7843 6313
[email protected]
National Play Strategy responds to 'Going Places!' recommendations
12 December 2008
EDCM yesterday welcomed the launch of the government’s National Play Strategy, which reflects many of the recommendations in our campaign briefing ‘Going Places!’ to ensure that all play opportunities are fully inclusive of disabled children and young people.
The Strategy outlines the government’s proposals to deliver safe, accessible and exciting play opportunities for all children through £235m funding as announced in the Children's Plan.
Specific commitments in relation to disabled children include:
- Play spaces developed by local authorities must be fully inclusive and accessible for all disabled children and young people
- The Neighbourhood Play Toolkit to provide information on how authorities can include disabled children in decision about developing play spaces
- Pathfinder authorities to receive information on the inclusion of disabled children, including fully accessible toilets and other facilities
- 4000 playworkers will achieve NVQ level 3 which includes a strand on equality and inclusion issues
- From April 2009, a new national play indicator, which will be informed by a TellUs survey will enable us to find out about the views of disabled children about the play provision in their area.
EDCM welcomes the government’s specific commitments in relation to disabled children and play and will be considering the strategy in detail. In particular, we will be:
- seeking clarity on the levers that government will use to ensure that local authorities develop inclusive and accessible play provision
- seeking reassurance that the TellUs survey is fully accessible to disabled children. This means ensuring information about the survey is clear and that it is available in a range of alternative formats, for example easy-read.
- Calling for equality training to specifically include disability equality training.
- Calling for local authorities to demonstrate how they will work with transport providers to improve accessibility of transport in order for disabled children to access play and youth services
The Play Strategy also includes a section on the links between short breaks for disabled children and play.
EDCM Board member Srabani Sen says:
‘We particularly welcome the links the Strategy makes between short breaks and play opportunities - they are not mutually exclusive. We look forward to the learning from the three joint play and short break pathfinders who are coordinating their plans under the play and short break funding streams, to enable greater opportunities for inclusive play provision’
More from EDCM
Find out more about disabled children Going Places!
Find out about what children and young people told us when they were asked if you were Prime Minister for the day and could change one thing, what would it be?
