The decision follows months of discussions involving many of our members, the NGBs which deliver the programme and the Association of Colleges, in response to Government changes to the national apprenticeship scheme which threaten the viability of AASE in its current form.
The Alliance has also worked in partnership with colleagues at Sport England, Skills Active and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to ensure the concerns of our members around changes to the apprenticeship scheme have been heard by Ministers.
This included letters from our CEO Emma Boggis to the Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch and Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, the Education Minister with responsibility for apprenticeships. The extension is welcomed as a short-term solution which will allow more time for everyone to continue to work together to find a long-term, sustainable solution that works for all sports.
The following statement has been shared by Government with us to circulate to the sector:
“The Department for Education has agreed that the current Advanced Apprenticeship for Sporting Excellence (AASE) arrangements can continue for a further year, until March 2018. This short-term measure is mindful of the need for a solution which covers recruitment and funding for AASE in 2017-18. Sustainable successor arrangements for AASE, which fit into government's policy on post-16 education, skills and apprenticeships, will need to be worked up for April 2018 onwards. Discussions on this and on how sport fits into the development of technical skills, as part of the skills plan, continue between government and sport sector representatives. We will provide further details on arrangements for 2017/18 and beyond in due course."
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