Meeting of the Parliament 14 March 2017
I thank all the MSPs from across the Parliament who signed the motion allowing the debate to take place, and all those who have stayed to participate in or to watch the debate.
I need to make a special mention of play champions in my constituency at St Luke’s primary school and early years in Kilwinning. I visited the school on Friday and was hugely impressed by its commitment to play. Finn, one of the early years pupils, gave me a brilliant guided tour of their junkyard garden, of which they are rightly proud—thank you, Finn.
I extend a warm welcome to all our visitors in the public gallery, particularly Marguerite and Sharon from Play Scotland. I am grateful for all the good work that they do in encouraging play, and I look forward to joining them and their colleagues after the debate for a reception in committee room 5—members are, of course, encouraged to join us.
The debate is about the importance of play and of children’s right to play. Growing up in the 1980s—or the olden days, as my daughter calls them—the opportunity to be outside playing was something that my friends, my brother and I took for granted. We went exploring on our bikes, built ramps and bogies, and had games of kerby that went on all day. We also used to play games involving our favourite television shows, with “The Fall Guy” being the one that I remember vividly, which involved us in trying our best to emulate the characters Colt, Howie and Jody by climbing and jumping off things. I do not remember any serious injuries, but I remember the occasional gentle warnings shouted by our mums to “get off the garage roof”, or that “someone’s going to end up breaking something soon”.
The other day, the Minister for Childcare and Early Years, Mark McDonald, tweeted a picture of some magnificent chalk art on his street that brought a smile to my face, as that was another thing we used to play at when we were younger and I had not seen it since my girls were young. It was another great play activity that provided them with hours of amusement.
The United Nations definition of children’s play is
“any behaviour, activity or process initiated, controlled and structured by children themselves; it takes place whenever and wherever opportunities arise.”
In other words, play is what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests in their own way and for their own reasons. Play is also frequently described as what children and young people do when they are not being told what to do by adults. Play is an essential part of every child’s life, and it is vital for the enjoyment of childhood as well as for children’s social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.
The importance of play was unequivocally recognised when it was enshrined as a right in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into force in 1990. Article 31 of the convention states:
“Children have the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.”
Article 31 was lent even more force in 2013, when the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted general comment 17, which clarifies and underlines for Governments worldwide the meaning and importance of article 31, as well as their obligations to “promote, protect and fulfil” children’s right to play by means of appropriate “legislation, planning and budgets”. The comment states:
“While play is often considered non-essential, the Committee reaffirms that it is a fundamental and vital dimension of the pleasure of childhood, as well as an essential component of physical, social, cognitive, emotional and spiritual development.”
The fundamental value of play is also recognised by the Scottish Government, which launched Scotland’s first national play strategy in 2013. The strategy recognises the life-enhancing nature of play and affirms a commitment to enabling all children and young people to realise their right to play, in particular through facilitating sufficient space and time for play and promoting positive support for play.