The very serious business of child's play

In reality, without constant attention, he will have completed three hours of Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City, several packets of prawn cocktail crisps and a lime-green Panda Pop by 9am and be playing football in the front room with wine glasses for goals.

I start with a fair few advantages on the holiday parenting front: some degree of flexibility during the parliamentary recess, the ability to pay for a reasonable range of activities, a childminder worth her weight in rubies and, of course, only one child, to count just a few. Looking down my street at the number of children playing on the pavement, some of them to my certain knowledge bored out of their minds by the absence of safe activities, structured or not, I remember that I am at the comfortable end of the spectrum – and yet, even so, I find it all something of a struggle.

All the evidence, to say nothing of common sense, points to the fact that good-quality, socially mixed, affordable play provision pays dividends for all of us. Our children are kept safe, socially and physically stretched (which may even maintain some of the momentum of school), domestic pressures are reduced and – surprise, surprise – crime and antisocial behaviour are reduced.

Down on the estate where my son goes to his childminder, Children's Fund money has provided a two-hour football programme for three days a week. This is popular and well-attended – a good use of the Children Fund programme – and it gets a good mix of kids. It is not being critical in any way to say that we could increase schemes such as this tenfold, drawing in a wider range of young people, and offering opportunities for the majority of young people in low-income families who don't actually live on estates.

There is sufficient demand for 20,000 out-of-school clubs, with current expansion plans only taking us forward towards 12,000

Kid's Clubs Network, the leading charity involved in out-of-school activities for young people, believes that there is sufficient demand for 20,000 out-of-school clubs, with current expansion plans only taking us forward towards 12,000. Provision for older children is far worse – 300 or so clubs for the 12 to 14 age range, with a possible need for 5000. Thanks to government support, facilities are generally for more widespread than they were a few years ago, but even if targets are met, only 60% of the demand will have been.

I worry, too, that the demands on school and social services budgets could eat into funding for these softer, discretionary activities, with, for example, increased charges squeezing out the most needy children and families, as has recently been the case in one of my own local authorities.

It is desperately important that the momentum built up around out-of-school activities, including that achieved through Sure Start programmes, Extended Schools, the Children Fund, and a number of other funding streams, does not falter. Positive achievements there have been, but as the Kids Club Network figures show, we are only heading towards the halfway mark. A comprehensive play and out-of-school strategy needs to be in place for every one of our more deprived communities.