A multi-million pound investment is to be made by the government to boost sport in colleges.

Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for the Department for Culture, Olympics Media & Sport, has launched the Youth Sports Strategy, which includes £25 million to be given to further education and sixth form colleges.

The aim of the money is to tackle the drop-off in sports participation which occurs when young people leave school. Up to 150 full-time sports professionals will be funded as college Sport Makers to drive up participation and develop innovative provision.

The news has been welcomed by the head of sport strategy at the Association of Colleges (AoC), Clare Howard, who said: “We are delighted that college students will benefit from this funding.

“It is ideal timing with the recent launch of the joint AoC/British Colleges Sport national college sports strategy and we look forward to working with Sport England to work up these proposals in more detail.”

Mr Hunt said: “We need a radical change in policy to address the deep-seated problem of people dropping out of sport when they leave school.

“Our bold approach will see money going to organisations that deliver on youth participation, but also withdrawn quickly from those which fail to meet agreed objectives.”

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