Play provision faces funding loss
Melanie Defries
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Children's play provision is among the victims of the new Government's axe, along with literacy initiatives and childcare subsidies for parents training to go back to work.
The Play Strategy will lose £5m in funding, though it was widely expected to be scrapped after reports that a Treasury aide had highlighted it as an example of inefficient Government spending. Savings are to be made by scaling back non-capital related projects and reducing the role of national delivery partners. But the Government has pledged to maintain capital funding this year so that play sites can continue to be refurbished.
The Play Shaper programme, funded by the DfE, which helps local authorities to consider children's play when planning towns and cities, is to be scaled back.
The Every Child a Reader programme faces cuts of £5m over the next year, while no decision has been made on its future.
Two pilot schemes aimed at improving children's transitions have been scrapped: Buddying, a programme promoting joint working and information sharing between staff in early years settings and schools, and the 0-7 Partnership scheme to ease children's transition between early years and primary school.
Childcare for Training and Learning for Work, for parents who want to upskill or train to get back into work, faces cuts of £10m.
A spokesperson for the DfE said, 'The Buddying and 0-7 pilots have been running for some time and we hope that they have become more mainstream. Take-up for the Childcare for Training and Learning for Work programme was lower than expected, but there will still be sufficient funding for any parents who wish to take it up. '
Tim Gill, consultant and former director of the Children's Play Council (now Play England), said, 'I think everyone working in the play sector knew that it would be hard to persuade the Government to maintain the level of spending on a non-statutory area while making cuts in more established areas. The challenge for those of us in the sector is to think creatively on how we can maintain the policy focus on play in the absence of spending. We need to do a better job of providing outdoor play opportunities and look at how we can make better use of school facilities.'
