Vaughan Gething, Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
I am pleased to inform Assembly Members of the further delivery of our manifesto commitment to “continue to improve opportunities for all children and young people
to play in safety and in particular to support improved access to play for children with disabilities”.
At the end of January the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty and I agreed to make the necessary preparations for the commencement of sections 11(3) and 11(4) of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010. Section 11(3) will place a duty on Local Authorities to secure sufficient play opportunities for children in their areas, so far as reasonably practicable, having regard to their play sufficiency assessments. Section 11(4) will require Local Authorities to publish information about play opportunities in their areas and keep this information up to date.
We also agreed that the commencement should be accompanied by Statutory Guidance to support Local Authorities in complying with this duty. Section 70 of the same Measure will also be commenced to bring fully into force the Welsh Ministers powers to issue guidance under the Measure.
This will complete the commencement of section 11, Play Opportunities of the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010.