Denise Lewis is among the top athletes to express concerns about the future of school sports funding Education Secretary Michael Gove is set to partially back down over his decision to scrap the £162m Schools Sports Partnership in England.
He will announce plans to salvage over £70m from his department budget to make sure the partnership survives, saving about 4,000 administrators’ jobs.
Teachers, and athletes such as Olympic star Denise Lewis, mounted a strong campaign against the original decision.
Ministers had called the partnership scheme a “complete failure”.
The Schools Sports Partnership supports joint initiatives between primary, secondary and specialist state schools designed to increase sporting opportunities for children.
Prime Minister David Cameron and other ministers said the scheme had not increased participation sufficiently.
But he said there would be a rethink after concern at “local level” at the decision.
More than 70 top British athletes, including Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis and world diving champion Tom Daley, wrote to Mr Cameron saying the policy was “ill-conceived” and risked efforts to deliver a “genuine legacy” from the 2012 London Olympics, in terms of encouraging sports participation.
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