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Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 January 2006. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Thursday, 26 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Recreation Areas and Holiday Play Schemes

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to develop (a) safe and accessible recreation areas and (b) affordable school holiday play schemes for the most vulnerable families.
Answer

Thanks to the £155 million play programme announced by the Big Lottery Fund in March 2005, a huge number of existing play facilities across England will be improved and new ones created. 80 per cent. of the fund will be used to develop free, open-access play provision in the areas of greatest need. Allocations will be made to local authorities based on child population weighted by the level of deprivation in each area but also taking into account where relatively affluent areas have pockets of deprivation (for example, rural areas).For the older child, we have outlined new national standards for ‘things to do and places to go' for young people. The standards include ensuring access to ‘a range of safe and enjoyable places in which to spend time'. We intend to introduce new legislation that will clarify local authorities' responsibilities to secure access to such provision.The Youth Matters Green Paper also outlined plans to put resources directly into the hands of young people so that they have more say over the way that resources are spent. Extra resources made available through the pre-Budget report mean that a total of £115 million will be available in the two financial years from April 2006 to support the provision of youth activities in communities, including the development of the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital funds which will particularly help to support access for young people from vulnerable families.We have also committed £840 million to help develop extended services, including holiday play schemes, so that they are accessible through all our schools by 2010. These funds have also been distributed with a weighting for levels of deprivation. The National Remodelling Team within the Training and Development Agency has been appointed to provide support to all schools to help develop extended services.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
39406; 441 c2292-3W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Access Disadvantaged Finance Playgrounds Recreation spaces Young people Holiday play schemes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk