Professor John Robertson OBA
From: Funding to upgrade children’s playparks: FOI release Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 published yesterday:
Question 1 – How much of this money has been allocated (not to be confused with the £25,000,000 announced recently)?
The Scottish Government has allocated and committed the following sums since May 2021:
- £5 million in year 2021/22, £5 million in year 2022/23,
- £10 million in year 2023/24 and
- £15 million in year 2024/25.
The Scottish Government announced recently that in 2025/26 the final funding instalment of £25 million will be provided to the local authorities, which is delivering on the 2021 Programme for Government commitment of funding £60 million for play parks renewal.
Why is this so important?
A recent study by researchers from the World Playground Research Institute highlights the critical role of playgrounds in supporting children’s health and development, urging action to create more accessible play areas. Children today spend significantly less time playing outdoors compared to previous generations. In the UK, for instance, only 27% of children play outside regularly. This decline in outdoor play is concerning because active play is crucial for children’s physical, social, and mental development. It plays a vital role in their overall health and happiness.
The reduction in outdoor play isn’t due to a single cause, but one major factor is the decreasing availability of safe and accessible play spaces. For example, while playing on residential streets was once common, many parents today no longer consider these areas safe for their children.
Playgrounds are widely recognized as safe spaces for children to play, and they are often the primary outdoor play areas for many kids. However, a recent study from the UK revealed that 31% of children under the age of nine do not have access to a playground near their homes.
I feel sure that those who made the FOI requests are disappointed and that this story will be ignored or twisted in some way.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Good news on the play front ?
Expect BBC or STV to find a parent complaining ( usually in a non-Scottish accent ) about the lack of play facilities in their island community which has no subsidised Water Park for the exclusive use of the island’s three kids causing them to feel unwanted in Scotland .
Their trauma was compounded by the failure of the local CalMac ferry to provide a 24 hour , round the clock service which delayed their arrival at the vet for an operation on their gerbil and caused long lasting trauma to the whole family , and they blame the SNP Government for not providing a 24 hour dial-a-vet Island Service which would have made their life more bearable … and don’t get them started on that John Swinney not providing a John Lewis store on the island , the lack of a Waitrose ….
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A new report by the Children’s Commissioner for England doesn’t hold back in its use of words. From the Commissioner’s foreword:
‘This report should not have to exist. Shining a light on children’s experiences of poverty in 2025, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, should not be necessary.
‘And yet, the findings in this work highlight real hardship; an almost-Dickensian level of poverty facing some children in England today. After four years as Children’s Commissioner and as a teacher and headteacher before that, few things truly leave me speechless – but the evidence from children in this report gives voice to a crisis that cannot be ignored.’
See https://assets.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wpuploads/2025/07/Growing-up-in-a-low-income-family-childrens-experiences.pdf
Scotland cannot be absolved from the continuing disgrace of child poverty. However, from a quick read of this report, I’m struck by how its recommendations for urgent action by the British Labour Party government in Westminster chime with much of what the SNP Scottish Government is already doing or has attempted to do, including in mitigation of Westminster’s policies – yes sometimes partially or insufficiently.
The Commisioner’s recommendations include but are not limited to (in terms): the ending of the two child benefit cap; the extension of free school meals; the provision of free public transport for children; encouraging the provision for children at school of access to a ‘trusted adult’; and improved communication and data-sharing between schools, GPs and local authorities.
Will a government forced to back track on PIP reforms which would have increased family and therefore child poverty now be prepared to dump the two-child cap? Or will it continue with a policy that directly runs counter to the objectives of the Scottish Child Payment?
What’s more important to British Labour Party ‘values’ – ‘social security’ in the true sense (a term replaced by ‘welfare’ in Labour’s lexicon. nowadays) or neoliberal fiscal rules which it must maintain, albeit without recourse to taxing wealth?
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