education and social policy

We have an annual budget of some £500,000 for Children's Play, which currently funds contracts with:

The Play England Council
Conducts a policy and research programme. The Council also hosts the Play Safety Forum, an independent body made up of the key agencies involved in regulation and good practice guidance, and services the Play Policy Forum, a UK multi-agency group of national organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors with an interest in children's play.
The Children's Play Information Service
Offers advice and guidance on play related issues to the public.
SkillsActive
The Sector Skills Council for play workers, developing a playworker training and education programme.

In January 2004 Getting Serious About Play, a review of children's play opportunities carried out by Frank Dobson MP, was published and the formal government response to the review was published in January 2005. The Children's Play reports are available to download from this website.

In March 2005, taking forward recommendations made in the Dobson Review, the Big Lottery Fund announced a £155 million strategic fund for play in England, the children's play initiative to develop free, open-access play provision in areas of greatest need. As part of this, in January 2006 the Children's Play Council (as part of the National Children’s Bureau) was awarded a grant to deliver the Play England Project, an England-wide regional support and development infrastructure.

In August 2006 DCMS published Time for Play, Encouraging greater play opportunities for children and young people. The publication sets out what government is doing on play, discussing recent changes in the delivery of children's services and what these changes mean for the play sector. The publication has been produced by DCMS with the assistance of all government departments with an interest in children's play, and a number of other organisations.

Dual Key
In July 2007, at a National Children’s Bureau event, Ed Balls, Secretary of State for the Department of Children, Schools and Families, announced that there would now be dual responsibility on children’s play policy, shared by DCMS and DCSF.

In December 2007 the Children’s Plan was launched by Ed Balls, Children’s Secretary for DCSF. The Children’s Plan aims to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up.

Children’s play was one of the main elements in the plan which announced a substantial new investment package of £225m to support local authorities, parents and communities in providing safe and fun play opportunities for children. An extra £10 million was subsequently added to this meaning that over the next three years £235 million will be spent on improving play opportunities for children.

The Children’s Plan included a commitment to publish the first national play strategy for England, and on Thursday 3 April 2008 DCSF and DCMS launched Fair Play: A consultation on the national play strategy which is available from the DCSF website.