On World Children’s Day last year, our National School Sport Champion Sir Mo Farah and other leading athletes wrote to the Prime Minister calling for a new national plan to guarantee every child daily opportunities to be physically active. 

This ambition has informed our ongoing engagement with government, as we seek to build a future where every child can be active every day through PE, sport and play. Today’s report highlights the essential role of play within childhood and action in response from government should form part of joined-up approach giving every child an active start in life. 

A cohesive plan supported by strategic investment can provide high-quality and engaging PE, guarantee access to school sport and deliver play sufficiency, with support targeted to those with the greatest needs. This can tackle the inactivity crisis, and develop a generation of children and young people who are happy, healthy and ready to learn.

We are pleased today’s report calls for the introduction of a Play Sufficiency Duty, as included in our own manifesto ahead of the 2024 general election. Such a Duty, alongside the ambition for neighbourhoods to be child-friendly and proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to empower youth voice and adopt pro-play policies, can make sure every community makes play a priority for children. 

In addition, the report is right to identify the important role of play with education, starting in early years, where we know fewer than one in five children aged 0-5 in the UK are moving enough to stay healthy. Getting more children active early in life helps them develop and improves school readiness, and sets them up for a childhood where being active every day is the norm. 

Moving to the primary school environment, it is important to protect time and opportunities for play, including through learning and within a wider programme of enrichment such as breakfast and after-school clubs, as part of a comprehensive offer that includes sport, physical activity and other activities such as arts and music. This approach can broaden experiences and particularly support those children with fewer opportunities to be active, including through play, outside the school day. 

We echo the call for protected breaktimes and lunchtimes, which have been squeezed in recent years and is contributing to a generation which is increasingly sedentary, consequently missing out on the benefits associated with being active. As we have argued, Ofsted or future school profiles could be used to understand how schools are supporting children to achieve the UK Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity recommendations. This could be done in a holistic way, encompassing PE, sport and play. 

We are pleased the Play Commission’s report joins the growing call for a new approach to school uniform, rejecting the traditional convention and understanding that through uniforms which encourage activity, we can support children to be more active in schools and happier, healthier and ready to learn as a result. Indeed, our own recent research found that 74% of parents of primary aged children, and 67% of primary school teachers, would support the introduction of an Always Active Uniform. 

Finally, the report is right to highlight the addictive grip of smartphones and social media on this generation. By supporting children to be more active, spending time with friends, enjoying sport and play and having fun, we can shift away from digital lifestyles and develop a generation which is more active, leading to improved physical, mental and social wellbeing and harnessing the power of physical activity, including play, to improve life chances.