Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle ensure that children have access to health play services in (a) children's hospitals and (b) children's wards in district general hospitals.

The Department recognises the importance of supporting and maintaining children’s right to play in healthcare settings, because games and active play in all settings build social skills and promote children’s well-being.

To support this, in June 2025 NHS England and Starlight, a national charity for children’s play in healthcare, co-published the Play Well Toolkit. The toolkit provides guidance on best practice, and includes a checklist to support the auditing, monitoring, and evaluation of services. NHS England is promoting the Play Well toolkit to managers of health play services across a wide range of settings, including community clinics, emergency departments, children’s hospices, and acute paediatric wards.