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WQ.367/2024
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
BY DEPUTY I. GARDINER OF ST. HELIER NORTH
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 21st OCTOBER 2024 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 28th OCTOBER 2024
Question
"Further to the response to Written Question 342/2024, detailing delays in the development of the Play Strategy due to resourcing constraints, will the Chief Minister advise –
- the total Government expenditure between March 2022 and March 2024 on the development of a Play Strategy;
- how developed the Play Strategy was when he took office in January 2024; and
- what additional resources, both financial and staffing, would be required from the Government to complete the Play Strategy?"
Answer
- A play strategy has not been developed. The resource expended in developing the draft play policy is in Officer time spent establishing and running a play steering group.
- A draft play policy was in development but was not completed by the end of 2023. Following the change of Government and the Minister taking office in 2024, the CSP was developed and new priorities identified. It was decided by the Minister that the completion of the draft policy and the development of a subsequent strategy were not progressed due to competing priorities.
- Notwithstanding the existing commitment expressed in the current Bridging Island Plan to work better together to deliver improved children's play spaces in St Helier (which is progressing) there has been no specific costed work to deliver a Play Strategy for the Island.
If this work became a Ministerial priority, temporary initial resource would need to be allocated to scope, research and consult on the breadth and content of any future play strategy with additional resource the allocated to support delivery and implementation. It is likely that resource would need to be moved from other ministerial priorities to progress the development of a Government play strategy. An estimate for the initial phase would be circa £66,000.
Work continues to upgrade Government play facilities to ensure they remain safe and inclusive. The playground at Les Quennevais Playing Fields has recently been refurbished and there has been a child-led approach to the Millennium Town Park refurbishment and subsequent planning application.