State of Play 2019

State of Play 2019

The Report of the Play Sufficiency Assessments and Play Action Plans 2019

December 2019 Š Play Wales

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Published by Play Wales, Baltic House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff CF10 5FH 2

Contents Review of Play Sufficiency Assessments and Play Action Plans 2019

4

Background

4

Changes to the PSA Form

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Researching Play Sufficiency – local authorities

6

Researching Play Sufficiency – the views of children

7

The review

8

Required processes – summary of progress

8

Partnership working, links to the Well-being Plan, monitoring Play Sufficiency

8

Maximising resources

8

Consultation, participation and engagement

9

Key messages

10

Summary

10

Accessibility of play spaces for disabled children

12

Background

12

The Play Sufficiency Review and access to outdoor play space

13

Final thoughts on accessibility

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References

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Review of Play Sufficiency Assessments and Play Action Plans 2019 Play Wales has been tasked by Welsh Government to undertake an analysis of the Play Sufficiency Assessments (PSAs) and Play Action Plans submitted to Welsh Government in March 2019.

The review will be used to inform:

This is the eighth national review Play Wales has undertaken. It builds on the State of Play 2000 report commissioned by the Welsh Government in 2000, subsequently updated by Play Wales in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011. Since the commencement of the Play Sufficiency duty, Play Wales has reviewed PSAs submitted in 2013 and 2016 and has also reviewed various Progress Reports in interim years. This review was undertaken between August and October 2019.

Play Wales has been asked to provide an overview of: • •

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The Ministerial Play Review which commenced in autumn 2019

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The Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services of the progress in implementing the play legislation and the affect this has had, or contributed towards, in ensuring that all children have sufficient opportunities to play

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Local authorities of the pan-Wales situation regarding play sufficiency

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Welsh Government policy areas of the results of the PSAs, which are relevant to their areas of work and proposals for future actions.

Background Wales – a Play Friendly Country is Statutory Guidance to local authorities on assessing for and securing sufficient play opportunities for children in their areas. It supports local authorities in complying with the duty under section 11 of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 20101, which commenced on 1 July 2014.

how play opportunities are being secured for children in each local authority in Wales the progress which has been made by each local authority in securing play opportunities in their area since the previous PSAs the ambition and appropriateness of the Play Action Plans in securing play sufficiency with regard to the local authority PSAs the achievements and challenges under the required processes and each matter to be considered required in the PSAs.

Wales – a Play Friendly Country Statutory Guidance lists a number of Matters that need to be considered:

Welsh Government has also asked for specific information about play opportunities for disabled children with particular regard to accessibility to outdoor play spaces, such as play areas and playgrounds. This is reported later in the Accessibility of play spaces for disabled children section.

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Matter A: Population

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Matter B: Providing for diverse needs

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Matter C: Space available for children to play

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Matter D: Supervised provision

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Matter E: Charges for play provision

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Matter F: Access to space/provision

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Matter G: Securing & developing the play workforce

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Matter H: Community engagement and participation

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Matter I: Play within all relevant policy and implementation agendas.

Play Wales received 14 responses to the short survey. Of the 14 responses only one respondent commented that they didn’t find the RAG status useful. Overall, everyone found the template useful or very useful and requested that little change was made to it.

The Play Sufficiency Assessment Toolkit was developed in 2012 to provide support to all local authorities in fulfilling their duties, as set out in the Play Sufficiency Assessment (Wales) Regulations 2012. The toolkit was prepared by Play Wales and the Welsh Government in conjunction with play providers across Wales as a means of supporting the implementation of the duty.

The survey results were provided to the Network in regional meetings held during June 2018.

There was a discussion about the template, with all meetings generally agreeing to maintain the process of assigning a RAG status to each criteria.

Key points from this exercise:

Local authorities were advised that the toolkit should be used with reference to the Play Sufficiency Assessment (Wales) Regulations 2012 and associated Wales – a Play Friendly Country Statutory Guidance. These set out the details of the assessment that each local authority needs to undertake, following the commencement of Sections 11(1), 11(2), 11(5) and 11(6) of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure (2010).

Changes to the PSA Form For 2016, the Welsh Government updated the Play Sufficiency Assessment Toolkit and the Play Sufficiency Assessment Form to enable local authorities to document the direction and distance travelled with regards to play sufficiency between the 2013 and 2016 PSAs.

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Policies need to be updated throughout

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Insert a column to enable the local numbering of the template

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Matter A: Population – over time, it was felt this might have become a tick box matter.

There was a view that the focus needs to be on how the information is used and to identify trends in population and the impact on play, which might be better captured in a narrative

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Clearly identify criteria which is updated or changed somehow

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Provide clear guidance as to how the template has changed.

Play Wales shared this information with Welsh Government and an updated template which addressed the above issues and a guidance note were made available to local authorities in September 2018.

Play Wales facilitates the Play Sufficiency Network, which aims to support the sharing of information between local authority officers with responsibility for play sufficiency across Wales.

Whilst all local authorities undertake the same process, there is still variability in how each addresses the duty to assess for children’s play.

There continues to be variation in the use of the PSA form and this is understandable as it relates to local issues and capacity. This review has highlighted these issues:

In the lead up to 2019 Play Sufficiency Assessment, Play Wales surveyed the network of Play Sufficiency Lead Officers via an electronic survey to inform the review of the Play Sufficiency Assessment Form.

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The level of detail for each criteria varies across all returns

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Due to capacity, many of the sections are shared with colleagues to complete.

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This results in some of the criteria being misunderstood or not completed

Towards Securing Sufficient Play Opportunities, is a small-scale research project which:

There is inconsistent use of the RAG status.

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looked at what happened over the 12 months after the submission of the 2013 Play Sufficiency Assessments

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looked at how selected local authorities prepared themselves to respond to the commencement of the securing sufficiency of play opportunities.

There is increased interest in the PSAs at local and national level, but, it can be difficult to interpret some of the information contained within.

Play Wales recommends that we work with Welsh Government and the Network of play sufficiency leads to consider a refinement of the template to support better data collection and presentation.

In 2019, Play Wales commissioned Russell to lead on a follow up study which looked at what people felt had changed since the Duty was introduced. This was done through:

Researching Play Sufficiency – local authorities Play Wales has worked with researchers to investigate the implementation of the Play Sufficiency duty. In 2013 and 2014, Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell2 carried out two research projects into local authorities’ responses to the then new Play Sufficiency Duty.

Leopard Skin Wellies, a Top Hat and a Vacuum Cleaner Hose: An analysis of Wales’ Play Sufficiency Assessment duty presents the findings from a small-scale research project exploring how local authorities responded to the introduction of the duty to assess sufficiency of play opportunities for children. It draws on data from 20 local authority PSAs and associated documentation, interviews and notes from stakeholder meetings in three local authority case studies, notes from attending regional meetings to share experiences across local authorities, interviews with a Welsh Government officer and key officers from national partners (Play Wales and Welsh Local Government Association) and an online survey for key stakeholders involved in the PSA process.

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analysing local authority PSAs and other documents

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talking to key officers in local authorities, Play Wales, Welsh Government and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner

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talking to professionals, children and families in three case study local authorities.

The paper, Children’s Right to Play in Wales: Six years of stories and change since the commencement of the Play Sufficiency Duty identifies what’s worked well, what the challenges have been, and what the lessons for the future might be, to make sufficiency sustainable and even more successful.

Executive summaries for all reports can be found at: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/research

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Researching Play Sufficiency – the views of children

In support of Playday 2019, Play Wales published highlights from the new research that reports on what children say about play in Wales. This has been shared with Welsh Government.

Play Wales has worked with Dr David Dallimore of Bangor University to analyse surveys completed by nearly 6,000 children across thirteen local authority areas in Wales as part of their PSAs in 2019.

An overview of the survey can be found in the Summer 2019 issue of Play for Wales magazine. www.playwales.org.uk/eng/publications/magazine

Data was collated with the considerable assistance of a statistical officer through the Analytical Volunteer Programme, a government scheme to support voluntary organisations. Play Wales received data from 18 local authorities.

Thirteen provided information in the format required to support the development of a consistent data set and within the limited time our analytical volunteer was available.

A full report was published in November 2019 as a contribution to the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC).

The full report is available at: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/news/1222newresearch-what-children-say-about-play-in-wales

Through the survey, children tell us what’s good about the play opportunities in their local area and tell us how satisfied they are about when, how and where they can play.

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The review Required processes – summary of progress

The development of Play Sufficiency Working Groups (or similar) which have been facilitated in most local authorities has contributed to the development of an increasingly joined up approach to planning for children’s play, with greater interaction between those with responsibility for staffed play provision and play/ open space.

Each local authority PSA contains a Principle Statement, which articulates the value of play.

The Context section describes the methodology used to undertake and approve the PSA and Action Plan.

Wales – a Play Friendly Country sets out a number of underpinning principles which Welsh Government expects local authorities to work to when responding to their duties to assess and secure sufficient play opportunities. The Play Sufficiency Assessment Toolkit also contains a number of required processes for each local authority to complete: •

Partnership Working

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Consultation and Participation

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Maximising Resources

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Links to the Well-being Plan

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Monitoring Play Sufficiency.

The PSAs suggest that some considerable progress continues to have been made regarding strategic planning for children’s play in most local authorities across Wales. Nearly all of the local authority PSAs demonstrate links to the Wellbeing Plans and include a named lead director and lead member. However, the facilitation of a Play Sufficiency Working Group is a challenge, particularly for those areas without a designated play sufficiency officer.

Where there has been limited progress, most PSAs have been able to identify reasons why and solutions as to how these may be achieved as part of the Play Sufficiency Action Plans. It is clear that the content of the PSAs reflects the infrastructure, capacity and play sufficiency knowledge locally. In several instances, particular Matters receive more in-depth attention. It appears that may be a reflection of the work plan or knowledge of the officer completing the overall assessment.

Partnership working, links to the Well-being Plan, monitoring Play Sufficiency The findings of the review indicate that despite continued significant and unprecedented financial pressures being faced by local authorities, there continues to be partnership working and collaboration in preparing the PSAs and Action Plans. There appears to be good collaboration interdepartmentally within local authorities. This is most evident in those areas with a designated play sufficiency lead officer.

Maximising resources All PSAs note that the authorities have faced significant funding and staff capacity issues. It appears that progress has been made in terms of meeting some targets of the Play Sufficiency Action Plans. However, this is largely due to the additional All Wales Play Opportunities Grants allocated from Welsh Government over the past several years.

Play Sufficiency Network meetings and the PSAs indicate that the commencement of Section 11 Play Opportunities has served as a national driver for the planning of play provision locally.

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Consultation, participation and engagement

All PSAs note the negative impact of austerity on the provision at local level and on the local authority’s capacity to complete the assessment.

In some instances, it appears that sections of the PSA have been completed by departments in isolation from one another. Whilst this is not new, it should be noted that change of officers during the lifetime of the PSA process may be impacting on knowledge and understanding of play, thus influencing the assessment and RAG status.

Despite the growing financial pressures, there appears to be a continued commitment to ensuring that the underpinning principles of consultation, participation and engagement are adhered to.

Several PSAs note the use of the All Wales Play Opportunity Grant to undertake more in-depth consultation with children and communities. This has been with neighbourhood-based focus groups or with groups of particular children. All of the assessments indicate some level of engagement with children, young people and parents. Where there is play development capacity either within a local authority or a partner organisation, there appears to have been very good engagement.

Where there is limited play development capacity, engagement with children might be less effective.

This 2019 review has identified that there appears to be an increase in the inconsistent use of the RAG status across Wales. Where sections have been completed in isolation it appears that the analysis is subjective, rather than an agreed corporate assessment. This reflects the message throughout all PSAs that local authority officer capacity has decreased over time.

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Key messages •

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The All Wales Play Opportunities Grant funding from Welsh Government has resulted in increased activity to secure play opportunities across Wales.

Welsh Government should be clear on how anti-poverty and other focused investment should be used to support play sufficiency.

It is challenging for local authorities to facilitate Play Monitoring Groups, particularly in areas without a dedicated play sufficiency officer.

Several PSAs continue to identify a need for a Quality Assessment process for staffed playwork provision.

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Insurance scheme providing cover for third sector providers (Matter I)

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Subsidised transport (Matter F)

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Brownfield site assessment (Matter C).

Summary This review of the 2019 PSAs has shown a significant reduction in local authority staff employed to develop and deliver play opportunities as well as the closure of regional play associations. In 2010 there were 10 play associations, in 2019 there are two operating in a diminished capacity.

There still appears to be confusion between the terms playwork workforce and play workforce, despite the inclusion of definitions in the 2019 PSA template.

Limited officer time continues to be consistently identified as the constraint to progressing actions within the Play Sufficiency Action Plans and in monitoring play sufficiency locally. Increasingly severe financial restrictions and changes in capacity of local authorities and their partners is militating against progress in addressing identified priorities. It also impacts on the ability to engage in some areas.

Despite the challenges, all PSAs demonstrate a commitment to delivering positive change, with a recognition that it is necessary to be mindful of existing capacity and resources.

Analysis of the review returns indicate that the Play Sufficiency Duty has served as a national driver for the planning of play provision locally.

The review suggests that local authorities and their partners feel that the duty to undertake PSAs has raised the profile of play locally and contributed to the forging of stronger cross departmental links between local government officers.

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Accessibility of play spaces for disabled children Background

of disability or special need. Non-prescriptive equipment, which can be used flexibly – such as a ‘nest’ swing – is attractive to and meets the needs of large numbers of children with different needs and abilities.

In February 2018, Vicky Howells, AM, introduced a Members’ Legislative Proposal Debate regarding inclusive play. To inform the discussion, Play Wales prepared and circulated a briefing paper to all Assembly Members. The paper set out the legislative framework which supports children’s play in Wales. It provided an overview of findings from local authority PSAs, identified solutions to address wider access issues, and concluded with recommendations from Play Wales.

Consultees agreed that when the severity of the child’s condition or impairment is such that they need specific equipment, it is likely that the equipment needs to be specific to them as an individual. This situation applies to a very small number of children. It is important to recognise that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach to meeting the needs of all children. It is also necessary to adjust provision to ensure children can play with their friends on the playground and that playing is enhanced by specific pieces of equipment.

As a result of this activity Play Wales commissioned the development of the Creating accessible Play Space toolkit.

Creating accessible play spaces

Swinging is a very popular activity in play spaces. Specialist equipment can provide a valuable opportunity for some disabled children to experience the sensation of swinging and spinning, but often this equipment is very costly.

In the case of some equipment, in particular wheelchair swings, there is concern that due to their design, some may promote segregation.

These are generally fenced and locked and do not contribute towards inclusion.

Play Wales, working with Alison John & Associates, developed the toolkit to support local authorities, town and community councils, politicians at all levels, open space planners, housing associations and other playground managers to assist them in meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

We worked with a small focus group of parents, local authority play area managers, play development officers and representatives of children’s organisations who advised on content.

The Creating accessible play spaces toolkit was published in November 2017: www.playwales.org.uk/eng/publications/ creatingaccessibleplayspaces

Predominately, the current practice for providing accessible play space focuses on the physical environment and serving those with mobility issues. The toolkit aims to focus attention on the sensory and social environments associated with playing. Considering physical, social and sensory factors increases the quality and accessibility of play spaces for all children, offering a rich play environment for all.

Our work researching and consulting for the development of the toolkit demonstrated that addressing all issues regarding accessibility is complicated. Currently, many play providers and campaigners focus on equipment that is wheelchair-accessible, however, it is important to recognise that there are many different types

The toolkit includes an overview of policy and legislation that underpins the creation of accessible and inclusive play spaces.

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The Play Sufficiency Review and access to outdoor play space

For the purpose of this paper, the following definitions are useful:

Wales – a Play Friendly Country Statutory Guidance lists a number of Matters that need to be considered:

Play or playground equipment Equipment that is designed for playing – such as swings, slides and climbing structures.

Inclusive play Inclusive play means that all children and young people have equal access to good quality local play provision.

This means that they can play with others or alone as they wish in a rich environment that supports their play needs and gives them access to a wide range of play opportunities.

Accessible play space A play space that is designed with no unreasonable environmental barriers to the space or movement within and around it. There is ease of access to the play opportunities within it. However, it does not remove acceptable challenge, which is an important feature of quality play space. An accessible play space can be used by more than one child at a time in more than one way. There is a variety of ways to move through the space and a selection of different pieces of equipment to be used and tried.

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Matter A: Population

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Matter B: Providing for diverse needs

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Matter C: Space available for children to play

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Matter D: Supervised provision

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Matter E: Charges for play provision

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Matter F: Access to space/provision

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Matter G: Securing & developing the play workforce

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Matter H: Community engagement and participation

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Matter I: Play within all relevant policy and implementation agendas.

Access to play space by disabled children is most often assessed and then addressed via Play Action Plans by local authorities through Matters A, B, C and F of the statutory guidance.

For the 2019 PSA, Welsh Government refined some of the criteria in the PSA template. This included amending the assessment of Matter A to assist local authorities to best identify how it uses population data to respond to and secure provision that meets the play needs of all children.

Additionally, local authorities were asked to consider a new criterion when assessing Matter C: ‘The Local Authority refers to guidance around creating accessible play space when refurbishing or developing new playgrounds.’

All local authorities report some action around this criterion. Most notably, many acknowledge that Equality Act 2010 compliance is required when contracting developers, although this isn’t always clear in Local Development Plan (LDP) guidance or Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).

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The reviews of Play Sufficiency Assessments in 2019 has highlighted the cost of equipment as being a particular barrier in supporting access to play space, for all children. This is a recurring trend also present in the reviews undertaken in 2013 and 2016. However, it is clear, that when funding is available, effort is being made to analyse population data (Matters A and B) when considering play area installations and improvements to access (Matters C and F).

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In terms of planning for accessibility, there are some good examples to improve access for disabled children captured in the Play Action Plans:

The review demonstrates that the All Wales Play Opportunities Grant has been used throughout Wales to support local authorities to address accessibility issues with regards to outdoor play spaces which had been raised through the Play Sufficiency Assessment process. Funding has enabled: •

purchase and installation of accessible basket swings, harness swing and roundabouts

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purchase of sensory equipment that can be used in a variety of settings through loan schemes

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installation of an outdoor sensory area, containing a water feature, wind chimes, solar lighting, and children’s art

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purchase of wheelchair tunnels and sensory dens

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purchase of specialist outdoor play equipment to be used in inclusive playschemes in specialist schools

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a trial of the introduction of high-backed swings with a strap loan scheme

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the undertaking of Play Space Access Audits across all parks/play areas

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improvement to surfacing and paths in play areas

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Several areas identify the Play Development team working more closely with Disability Service or established working groups that assess the redesign of new and existing play areas to ensure accessibility.

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One area identifies the establishment of a Disabled Young People as Consultants Group to audit the accessibility of community play spaces

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One area has published a Key Consideration Document as planning guidance to ensure that new and upgraded areas meet Equality Act 2010. This is included within the Play Wales toolkit.

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Development of Supplementary Planning Guidance, which addresses issues of accessibility, as part of the Open Space Assessment process.

Some key messages from the Play Sufficiency Assessment review:

purchase of a specialist roundabout to be used in a school ground which allows access to children and the community out of teaching hours

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improvements to signposting, interpretation panels and footbridges in public open spaces to allow access to disabled users.

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Most local authorities have limited or inactive refurbishment programmes due to budget cuts and officer capacity

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Many have aging stock that is functional but does not offer much play value

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Some local authorities have handed over the management of play areas to local groups via Community Asset Transfers

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There is a need for balance between wellequipped and accessible play areas and providing ‘doorstep’ neighbourhood provision.

Final thoughts on accessibility

References

Meeting the play needs of all children through the provision of accessible outdoor play space continues to be a priority for local authorities and their partners in Wales. There generally appears to be a greater consideration to the general principles of inclusivity. The majority of PSAs undertaken in 2019 show an overall decrease in play areas due to budget issues and lack of financial resource to invest, update and refurbish older sites. Where capital investment programmes have been available, issues of inclusivity have been well considered and provided for.

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www.legislation.gov.uk/mwa/2010/1/contents

Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell are the authors of the highly acclaimed research and literature review Play for a Change – Play, Policy and Practice: A review of contemporary perspectives, published in 2008. They went on to research and author Children’s Right to Play: An examination of the importance of play in the lives of children – commissioned by the International Play Association and published by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. This concept paper significantly influenced the production of General comment no. 17 on article 31 of the UNCRC. These instrumental publications have helped shape our understanding of accounting for and taking responsibility for play sufficiency.

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December 2019 © Play Wales

Published by: Play Wales, Baltic House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff CF10 5FH

www.playwales.org.uk

Play Wales is the national organisation for children’s play, an independent charity supported by the Welsh Government to uphold children’s right to play and to provide advice and guidance on play-related matters.

Registered charity, no. 1068926 A company limited by guarantee, no 3507258 Registered in Wales