I have just come from an event upstairs marking International Day of Play. We are often accused of not playing fairly or well with one another in the Chamber, but, in truth, this is a really important day. It is important for our children and young people, because, as was said at the event, they make up 25% of our population but 100% of our future. Play is really important for their education and mental well-being and for giving them the skills for their future for the jobs that they will be able to do in our economy. Most importantly, however, play is about their well-being and resilience. We need to ensure that every child has access to play. That means that all children, no matter where they live, what their abilities or disabilities are or what challenges they have in life, should have the capacity to play. We as a Government must support them and have a policy and a framework in place to ensure that every child has accessible play.

My local council, Mid Ulster District Council, now has a policy in place to ensure that there is at least one item of accessible equipment in any new play park or in play parks where refurbishment is being carried out. That is nowhere near enough, however, for the children in our community who need more accessible play. We therefore must ensure that there are better policies from my council and every other council across the North. Additional funding is not required for most of this. Most of it is simply about a change of mindset and culture. It is about our belief in the importance of play for our children. If we want to have a better future, because — remember what I said — children are 100% of our future, and if we want them and, in turn, everyone coming behind them to have a better future, we need to take the importance of play seriously. We need to have a policy and a framework.

We are behind every other part of these islands, and that is not good enough. At one time, we were ahead of some parts. We were ahead of Scotland, but Scotland is way ahead of us now. That is not good enough, so we need to look at that. The last time that a policy framework was in place was in 2006. Perhaps we do not need something new. Perhaps we just need to look at what was there, at why it was not implemented, at what was implemented and at what we can do better. It is about a change of mindset from all of us in the Chamber, because we are the leadership, and if we have a change of mindset and culture, we will find that that will roll down into our education establishments, the health system and every other part of life: our economy, our communities and our justice system. Play is important, and we need to take it seriously.