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<p>The provision of community and green space amenities, including their design and
equipment is the responsibility of the Local Authority. The Local Authority has a
duty of care under the Equality Act of 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to prevent
those protected characteristics, including disability, experiencing a disadvantage.
Section 149 of the Act places an over-arching duty on Local Authorities to eliminate
discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and foster good relations between
those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. The duty expressly
includes taking steps to meet the needs of disabled persons. Further detail can be
found in the Act which can be accessed here: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.legislation.gov.uk%2Fukpga%2F2010%2F15%2Fcontents&data=04%7C01%7CParliamentary%40communities.gov.uk%7C2cf79b708f164b87250708d89551d024%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637423525894528430%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=KLT16wrjzX9kZ4RpXWxAEfxhMEleUFWO97D6FCo4Dbk%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents</a>. The responsibility
for local authorities falls to MCHLG.</p><p>The Children and Nature Programme is a
major programme funded by Department for Education which aims to support children
from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to natural environments. The
programme prioritises pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, and engagement with school.
The main target audience for the programme are schools with the highest proportion
of disadvantaged pupils, Alternative Provision Institutions (API) including but not
limited to Pupil Referral Units, and importantly special schools, so many of the children
who are impacted by the programme will have special educational needs and/or disabilities.</p><p>The
Programme comprises three delivery projects and an evaluation project. The largest
project in the programme is the Nature Friendly Schools Project, which is delivering
greener grounds and pupil visits to green spaces for schools with the highest proportion
of disadvantaged pupils. The Government is planning to start delivery to two schools
in the Dudley area from April; Hawbush Primary School in Brierley Hill and Crestwood
Secondary School in Kingswinford. We are also supporting the Community Forest and
Woodland Outreach Project, which aims to increase and help sustain community forest
and woodland outreach activities being delivered to school children, particularly
those in disadvantaged areas. In addition to this the Growing Care Farming Project
aims to achieve a transformational change in the scale, scope and uptake of care farming
services in England for children and adults facing disadvantage or social exclusion,
to benefit their health and wellbeing and their social and educational development.
The evaluation project will deepen our understanding of the effectiveness of nature-based
interventions and how activities in nature impact pupils’ health and wellbeing. We
are also supporting national landscapes in their aim of helping everyone, including
children and young people, discover and engage with protected landscapes to benefit
the health and wellbeing of the whole nation. The responsibility for these programmes
falls under DEFRA.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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