Present ABAC Terry Attlee, John Bicourt, Jim Cowan, Bill Laws, Fred Stebbings, Jack Walters, Michael White

England Athletics Alex Copeland, Mike Summers.

These had been approved by ABAC and EA and placed on the ABAC website.

A summary of the England Athletics strategy for 2009-2013 is available on the EA website at:

http://englandathletics.org/core/core picker/download.asp?id=1445

Growing the numbers in all parts of running is a Sport England target. The Run Britain programme is a UKA initiative. It had generated minimal funds so far. New plans to try to reinvigorate Run Britain are being introduced. Geoff Wightman will be a full time CEO for Run Britain as from 1^st February.

Alex Copeland has rewritten Club Mark to bring it into line with that used by other Governing Bodies .It will be simpler and more flexible Information is available on the EA website. By 2012 clubs with junior sections must have club mark in order to receive network funding.

The strategy document on the EA website is the only published strategy document. EA has enlisted the support of Cowan Global Consultants to develop a nationwide survey and consultation programme to take place through the spring of 2010. This will help inform a new strategic plan for the sport for beyond 2012.

The coach/athlete monthly awards scheme is not currently running. However National and Regional Annual Awards for a range of volunteer categories including coaching were presented in late 2009, with the National Awards presented at the Hall of Fame event in Birmingham in October. A list of winners is on the EA website.

Sport England funding covers a 4 year period 2009 – 2013. The annual funding levels are not 100% guaranteed and could be impacted by a change in government.

Sport England is very conscious of participation levels in athletics. They take athletics in its widest scope to include occasional joggers as well as keen athletes. Participation is very important to the politicians and according to Sport England funded surveys 1.7 million people participate in athletics. It was noted that the level of public funding for the sport is dependent on overall participation levels.

ABAC’s main objective is to increase the numbers joining clubs and to improve standards. ABAC thinks that the networks (which are based on ABAC proposals) are showing early signs of promise.

ABAC thinks that the Sport England funded MORI surveys are a waste of public money because they are too general. ABAC thought the satisfaction survey particularly meaningless. Money could be better spent improving sport at grassroots level. The point was made that due to governing bodies concerns the money spent on surveys has halved. Even so the last 3 surveys had cost £11million

England Athletics on the other hand welcomes Sport England’s approach of measuring three key outcomes: Growth in participation ("grow"), increased satisfaction of all participants ("sustain") and higher levels of performance ("excel") which is tracked through Power of 10.

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EA employ about 20 CCSO’s (Club & Coach Support Officers) ie 1 CCSO for every 2 or 3 counties. There is a shortage of throws coaches in some areas. The advice is to talk to the local CCSO and see if a flying coach visit or other coach development activities can be arranged. Funding for this would be available from the local club network.

Despite Park Run being in the original programme for EA a satisfactory agreement had not been concluded. The London Marathon Trust is now providing some funding for Park Run, which England Athletics welcomes. The allocated funding of approx £150,000 per year has been ring fenced by EA to support other participation initiatives. ABAC asked for more information on how this money is to be re-allocated.

EA is also funding the Women’s Running Network to deliver a new initiative to encourage newcomers grass roots jogging. The joining fee for "Run in England" is £20 with annual renewals of £20. It was noted that this is similar to fees set by active clubs. It was noted that participants also pay their group run leader around £2 or £3 for each training session. (which clubs do not) The leader must have attended a Leadership in Running & Fitness Course (LIRF) to qualify the leader for insurance. ABAC asked whether group leaders who had not attended a LIRF course were insured by the UKA policy. EA promised to answer this question.

EA were encouraging clubs and Run in England groups to work together. Sport England funding originally intended for Park Run may go to Run England. Sport England funding pays for 4 area development officers for Run England.

The online club has attracted a disappointingly small number of members. Geoff Wightman will be looking at how he can develop the online club. Run Britain’s race licence income, after costs, will come to England Athletics and will be used to support the development of endurance running. Geoff Wightman is being paid by UKAthletics. The membership fee for the online club is £12.99.

EA reported that the number of registered athletes in 2009/2010 was 99,000 broken down as follows 11-16year old 23000, 17-24 year old 8000, 25-34 year old 13000 and 35years + 55000. At a rough estimate 65/70% of the registered athletes are road runners.

Terry Attlee expressed the view that the registration scheme was a waste of time and money and caused club secretaries an enormous amount of extra work.

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EA have no immediate plans to change the scheme or the £5 fee but it is kept continually under review. If Government funding for the sport is reduced then the level of the registration fee may need to be increased.

ABAC’s view is that the sports governing bodies should be operated as efficiently as possible so that fees for the sport remain modest and funds flow to the grassroots.

ABAC said that there appeared to be inconsistency in the structures of the networks. Alex Copeland said that the networks have been established in accordance with the needs of the clubs. Every network reports to Alex quarterly and funding depends upon these reports in relation to the network plan. Every network has a plan in place. Each network resubmits its plan on an annual basis. The 20 CCSO’s also review the plans.

The budget for the athletic networks for the 12 months from 1^st April 2010 is £1.5m.

ABAC asked whether networks could carry forward funds which may not have been spent in the year. EA said this would all depend upon the circumstances however they would be flexible and realistic.

It was noted that changes introduced by Governing bodies could affect a Network’s plans mid term. An example of changes to the present coaching set up was given. EA agreed that they would be flexible in regard to such situations.

The beacon clubs were now all in networks and did not receive separate funding.

A network was defined as more than 2 clubs working together in partnership to develop the sport. Funding plans were in place for just over 50 networks. 27 have funding in their accounts at the moment. 387 clubs were currently involved in networks and it was expected that this would increase to 450 by the end of the year. EA insist that there is at least one track and field club in each network. There are very few adult only running clubs in the networks.

Delays are occurring over CRB checks. It is unclear whether this is the fault of UKA or the CRB.

UKA insist that all coaches must be CRB checked.

ABAC asked how many paid coaches were funded by UKA and EA. EA said that they do not fund any coaches but fund coach mentors.

An area break down of level 3 and 4 coaches was provided to John Bicourt. There was however no information concerning the level of activity of these coaches.

ABAC suggested that a publicly available register of level 3 and 4 coaches should be published.

There was discussion about the possibility of having a post code linked data base which would allow access to details of coaches in a local area. EA agreed to look at this suggestion.

ABAC thought it wrong that coaches had to pay to attend championships when their athlete competes. EA said that they were looking at a scheme which would allow coaches to attend championships without paying for admittance. Coach admission to EA champs is already free.

ABAC said there was a lot of confusion about the latest coaching structure. ABAC said that the statement from UKA contained in the 17^th Dec AW was unintelligible. EA said a new UKA coach website could be linked from the new UKA web site and that site includes detailed information on the proposed new structure. Jim Cowan said that it is estimated that only 60% of the population have internet access but EA said this would be much higher in the coaching fraternity. Nonetheless ABAC felt the whole reorganisation of coaching had been badly handled and poorly publicised but noted that the general programme seemed to be based on previously published ABAC proposals.

John Bicourt said that the sport needs to financially incentivise officials and coaches and thus bring in new young blood.

ABAC asked if there was a register of active officials. Apparently UKA have a register. Cherry Alexander should be able to supply details.

ABAC asked if there was any truth in the rumour that there would be an age limit on officials for 2012 Olympics. A view was expressed that this would be illegal under age discrimination law. EA subsequently confirmed that this rumour is untrue.

EA are planning an English National Championship for 16/17 July 2010. As these dates clash with preparations for the European Championships it is recognised that several top athletes may not attend so the Championships will not be used on their own as a selection event for the Commonwealth Games.

The BAL Chairman Mike Heath is working with Chris Jones of EA on reviewing championship and league structures. ABAC offered to provide an officer to help with this task.

John Bicourt said there was a lot of talent out there. We all needed to work to get them into our sport and into our clubs

ABAC/EA 23.01.2010