Campaigners demanded to know what had happened to 200m earmarked for play when the minister addressed the annual meeting of disability charity Kids last week.
Joanna Ryan, head of Kids-active's national development division, said Frank Dobson's review had put disabled children right at its centre and people across the country wanted to know what was going on.
Hodge stressed that the Government's official response was being handled by Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport.
But she emphasised her department's investment and commitment to play through Sure Start, Children's Fund projects and the youth green paper.
She said: "Play is utterly central to what I'm about." Her comments follow calls from Tim Gill, the former director of the Children's Play Council, for responsibility for play to be transferred from the DCMS to the DfES (Children Now, 29 September-5 October).
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