Julie Morgan, Deputy Minister for Social Services
The impacts of the last year have been felt by all of us, and particularly so by our children and young people. From time away from childcare, school and college, to being unable to take part in the wide range of activities they share with their friends, our children and young people have missed many opportunities to socialise, to be active and to play.
While many of these activities have restarted, we cannot underestimate the impacts the absences from them have caused. It is important that in supporting our children and young people to recover we look at the full range of their needs. That is why alongside our Renew and Reform plan for learning recovery I am today announcing £5m of funding to support our children and young people to take part in a range of sporting, cultural and play based activities.
The Summer of Fun is an offer for children and young people aged 0-25 to play and participate in leisure, recreational, sporting and cultural activities to help rebuild their social and emotional skills in both Welsh and English. Access to activities such as these is critical in the recovery of Covid-19 and will support the social, emotional, physical and mental wellbeing of all children and young people, and that in turn is integral to supporting them in reengaging with learning and education, enabling all children and young people to reach their full potential.
These activities will sit alongside our existing investments through our School Holiday Enrichment Programme and our Holiday Playworks Scheme. All local authorities will receive a share funding to stage activities as part of the Summer of Fun, tailoring the offer to the needs and wants of the children, young people and communities in their area. I have provided guidance on how to approach this funding and deliver for the children and young people in Wales.
Within this funding we are providing £450,000 between Sport Wales and the Arts Council for Wales to enable them to develop a series of pilots looking at how to provide sporting and cultural activities around the school day. These pilots will take place in the next school year.