5. Will the Minister outline his strategies for improving play facilities for children across Wales? OAQ(5)0066(CC)

I’m grateful for the Member’s question today. We are working across all Welsh Government-related policy areas to develop strategies to increase children’s play opportunities. These are areas outlined in ‘Wales—a Play Friendly Country’, including schools, planning, traffic and transport, and health and well-being.

Thank you for that, Minister. You referred to Wales as being a play-friendly country, and I’m sure you appreciate the vital role that exercise plays in having a healthy upbringing and making us healthier adults. However, these spaces are under immense pressure. They’re being sold off or they’re just disused or just plain nasty. People don’t want to go there, because they don’t feel safe. What safeguards, Minister, can you put into place to ensure that these public spaces are protected and well maintained so that adults and children alike can enjoy the great outdoors and have a healthier lifestyle?

I absolutely recognise the Member’s concern. Indeed, I came into the world of politics because of play areas in my particular area—wanting to do better for the community, and, indeed, very selfishly, for my daughter, when I was taking them to the park and it wasn’t up to standard. So, I think the Member has a valid point. We have introduced play sufficiency assessments for local authorities; they have a statutory duty to assess and secure sufficient play opportunities for children, and local authorities are required to deliver against their play action plans each year.

The whole ethos of this Government is about early intervention and prevention, and particularly young people—introducing a children’s Minister is a very specific point that we value the contribution of young people in our communities and across Wales.

We know that safe, accessible and fun play spaces for children are important and an integral part of our local communities. It’s equally as important that children have their say in shaping that which affects them. With that in mind, I’m very pleased to see that Ysgol Merllyn’s school parliament, led by their prime minister, Tony, are here in the gallery today. Can I ask, Cabinet Secretary, how children’s groups and organisations such as the fantastic Ysgol Merllyn school parliament, are supported and encouraged to help shape play facilities in their areas?

I’m grateful to the Member for Delyn for asking me that important question. It’s great to welcome Ysgol Merllyn and the prime minister, Tony, with his historic name, to the Chamber, too. The Member raises a very important point. Indeed, the statutory guidance, ‘Wales—a Play Friendly Country’ sets out what is required by local authorities in fulfilling their role—the youth clubs and school councils. The guidance also encourages local authorities to have a play champion to raise the profile of play with young people. I urge all authorities to engage with young people in terms of what the requirements are that they see for their communities and the needs that are required within them, and I wish the school a safe journey back to your constituency.

Talk really is cheap, and I wonder how you marry the contradiction between what is said in this Chamber and the fact that play centre after play centre has been closed by your party in my region. In Cardiff, Grangetown Play Centre’s been under threat for years; we have the Cardiff Central Youth Club and the play clubs around that under threat—well, basically, told that they’re going to close. They’re told they’re going to close. So, what reassurance can you offer those parents whose children’s play centres are threatened by your party?

This Assembly has obviously got a very strategic role in the way that we manage and create policy. The Member may wish to readdress that question, as he is a councillor in the local authority he talks about. It’s an interesting position when he says about ‘your party’ closing play centres and schools, et cetera. That was the man who was in our party, but he changed position, he went into another party, but that’s not new either. So, I thank him for the question, but another pointless one, again.

Cwestiwn 6, Bethan Jenkins.