Newspaper
Government gets serious on play
Schools secretary Ed Balls recently unveiled the Children’s Plan – a major initiative designed to make England “the best place in the world for children to grow up”. The Children’s Plan is the result of months of nationwide consultation with parents, teachers, professionals and young people. It also follows Demos’ ‘Seen and Heard’ report, which found that public spaces are often unwelcoming to children. Accordingly, the Children’s Plan will spend £225m on children’s play areas over the next three years – the largest government investment in children’s play in UK history. Balls said: “We will be able to build or upgrade more than 3,500 play areas across the country – an average of 23 per local authority; 7 per constituency.” In response, LI president Nigel Thorne said: “I am delighted to hear that the Government is making such an investment in children’s education and is again emphasising the importance of the Building Schools for the Future programme.” Discuss this article
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