11 May 2007
Over the past two years, Play England has been developing and piloting a system of performance assessment for local provision for children and young people’s play and informal recreation.
Play England hopes that the system, if successfully piloted, will be integrated into the new Audit Commission assessment of local authorities to drive improvements and expansion of play provision across the country.
The system comprises of a set of four indicators which assess: how much and how often children and young people play out in their local neighbourhoods; the access they have to suitable spaces for play and informal recreation; the quality of those spaces; and how satisfied children and their parents are with local spaces for play and informal recreation.
An integral part of this system is a tool for evaluating the quality of spaces for play. This tool has been through numerous developments as the result of feedback, and we hope that – as part of the wider indicator system – the tool will be both practical to use and capture the real essence of a good space for play.
The system is currently being piloted in six local authorities. The results from the pilots – along with feedback from consultation with key play sector partners – will inform the improvement and development of the system to ensure it is workable and effective.
The draft guidance, used by the pilot authorities, is available for information to the play sector. The document is very detailed describing the indicators and the data collection process and includes the quality assessment tool. However, this document will be updated in July 2007 and the revised guidance will take account of the experience and learning from the pilots.
Download the draft guidance [3.2MB PDF].
PLEASE NOTE: This guidance is currently being updated and will be published is March 2009.
The system is being developed with consultants Ashley Godfrey Associates and INSPIRE. Play England is also very grateful to the teams in the six pilot areas: Bolton, Bristol, Chelmsford, London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Kirklees and Manchester.
If you would like any more information please contact Issy Cole-Hamilton, Play England Policy and Research Manager on 020 7843 6304 or by email.
Play England is part of NCB and is supported by the Big Lottery Fund.
'The child's right to play is the citizen's first claim on the community.'
David Lloyd George, 1925