Meanwhile, in 2001 Labour made an election pledge of 200m forplay from the National Lottery. The successful campaign to secure thattended to obscure the wider arguments of Making the Case for Play, whichnever received a formal response.
Now the culture minister David Lammy has said that a play strategy is"not the direction of travel for the Government". This will disappointmany in the play sector, who rightly claim that the need for nationalaction is now greater than ever (a position supported by the Departmentof Health's white paper).
The minister's comments are consistent with a trend in government policytowards a devolved approach. They do not signal a cooling on play. Onthe contrary, Lammy's department is leading a cross-government group toconsider policy areas and activities affecting children's play. He hassaid "play is a necessity" and committed to being the play champion atWestminster. This is all timely and very welcome.
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