Hansard

I will do my best to respond to an excellent and wide-ranging debate, which I thank Ruth Maguire for securing. I also thank Play Scotland for its on-going support for play and for facilitating this evening’s reception to celebrate Scotland’s play charter. The turnout for the debate, which is a lot higher than the turnouts that we often get for members’ business debates, demonstrates the strong commitment that exists to play throughout Scotland. The Government shares that commitment.

I will respond to some of the points that have been made. Ruth Maguire and Rona Mackay emphasised the right to play as articulated in article 31 of the UNCRC. We in the Government also see that as very important. That is why we developed Scotland’s national play strategy in collaboration with the play sector to help us to raise the profile of the impact of play and ensure that Scotland’s children achieve their full potential. We believe that play is central to that.

I thank the play strategy implementation group for working with us to create and enhance the fundamental building blocks that will enable and inform a more playful Scotland in which children can realise their right to play every day. I strongly believe that the play charter will help us to further embed the principles of the play strategy, and I again thank Play Scotland for continuing to diligently encourage us to commit to play as an essential ingredient of children’s wellbeing.

The play charter is right to focus on inclusivity and our shared vision for play. It seeks to improve the experiences of all children and young people, including those with disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and it aims to ensure that all children and young people can access play opportunities in a range of settings that offer variety, adventure and challenge. They must be able to play freely and safely while learning to manage risks and make choices about where, how and when they will play according to their age, stage, ability and preference.

Brian Whittle spoke about physical literacy and its impact on children’s health and wellbeing, as he often does in the Parliament—and rightly so. Play is crucial for children’s healthy development. A growing body of evidence supports the view that playing throughout childhood is not only an innate behaviour; it contributes to children’s quality of life, wellbeing and physical, social and cognitive development.

I firmly believe that nothing is more powerful than a child’s imagination—it can take a child anywhere and make them anything. Through our investment in play, we are working with families to create spaces and places for that imagination to thrive. Play is one of the keys to unlocking the potential of Scotland’s children.

As part of our expansion of early learning and childcare to 1,140 hours a year by the end of the current parliamentary session, we are working with the Care Inspectorate, the Scottish Futures Trust and others to publish new good practice design guidance for all early learning and childcare centres across the sector by the summer, which will include looking at outdoor play provision.

We are running a series of trials, some of which will look at outdoor play. A project that is based here in Edinburgh will look at the establishment of outdoor nursery provision through a nature kindergarten.

This morning, I had the pleasure of speaking to early learning and childcare higher national certificate students at West College Scotland’s Clydebank campus. I was asked about how we get the public to understand the importance of early learning and childcare to children’s development and asked to get across that it is not just about sitting around and playing. I questioned why we need to make that distinction. Exploratory play is fundamental—it is critical—to children’s development; it is how they learn about shapes, textures, colours, words and numbers.

Daniel Johnson spoke about investment. The Government continues to invest in play and, this year alone, we have invested more than £3 million in it. That includes funding of £700,000 for play, talk, read, £1.6 million for the bookbug programme and £260,000 for Play Scotland, plus a host of other fantastic initiatives.

Since 2012, we have invested more than £3 million in Inspiring Scotland’s go2play play ranger fund. The fund supports Scottish charities to develop play ranger provision for vulnerable children and disadvantaged groups and to engage them in active outdoor play. Play rangers provide a huge number of benefits not only for our children but for parents and communities, by enabling children to play in spaces that are familiar to them, such as their street or local park, while giving parents peace of mind and encouraging positive interaction between children and the wider community.

Alison Johnstone mentioned the Yard. A reception was recently held in Parliament to celebrate its 30th birthday. Inclusive play is important, and I want it to be encouraged much more widely. I am concerned that it is often an afterthought, particularly for soft play centres, which often run relaxed and inclusive sessions at times that they deem to be quiet. Those times are quiet because they are inconvenient, and they are as inconvenient for families with disabled children as they are for other families. That issue needs to be recognised.

Alison Johnstone also spoke about consulting children. I have experience of that from my time as a local councillor, when a play park in my community—the one that I used to play in as a child—had fallen into disrepair. Through working alongside community workers in the council, we consulted widely with children who lived around the play area on how they wanted it to be redeveloped. A budget was identified and the park was redeveloped. The play area is now busy and thriving, when previously families tended to avoid it. There are good examples of children being consulted about play opportunities.

Kenneth Gibson gave us an interesting insight into his childhood—we will leave it at that. He emphasised that play is about freedom and opportunity. If we restrict those aspects, we restrict opportunities for children to develop their potential fully.

Jeremy Balfour made an important point about fathers who do not interact and play with their children, or who perhaps do not do so until the children are a bit older. He emphasised the importance of early play and interaction with fathers to develop bonds and develop children’s crucial cognitive abilities.

Clare Haughey touched on various areas in which play has an impact. She mentioned mental health, and it is worth recognising that area, particularly when we look at the other pressures that children and young people face in our communities.

Iain Gray highlighted a number of good examples from his East Lothian area. He asked me to raise an issue with the Minister for Local Government and Housing about ensuring that play areas in new developments are not only suitable but maintained. I will be happy to raise that with my colleague Kevin Stewart following the debate.

Fulton MacGregor made an important point about how best to use spaces; that point was also made by Daniel Johnson. We need to look more carefully at how well we use spaces and facilities—particularly those that sit empty for long periods and could be better used with a bit more creative thinking.

Ross Greer talked about the importance of nature and the outdoors. I mentioned the trial in Edinburgh. There and in a number of other areas, we are looking at collaborative approaches. For example, the University of Aberdeen recently ran a scheme alongside the wee green spaces project that gave children opportunities to use the university’s botanic gardens as a place in which to play and explore. There are good examples out there, and we want to encourage such collaboration.

I have run over time, but I hope that I managed to mention everyone. I realise that I am preventing Jeremy Balfour from getting away to play with his children, and I had better not hold him up further. I hope that the other members who are here will join the individuals in the gallery at the reception later, as we continue to celebrate play and emphasise its importance to the children of Scotland.