Will training firm closure affect county cricket club?
DERBYSHIRE County Cricket Club says it is assessing the potential impact of its “principal partner” – Derby-based training provider Aspire Achieve Advance (3aaa) – being placed in administration.
3aaa, which was one of the biggest apprenticeship training providers in the country, told up to 500 staff and 4,500 learners the news last Thursday and immediately handed out redundancy notices and closed courses.
The Department for Education, which pulled the plug on funding to the company, has now submitted the findings of investigations into the firm to the police via Action Fraud.
A deal between the cricket club and 3aaa was struck in 2014, which saw the ground renamed as the 3aaa County Ground – the first time the club had a naming rights partner. 3aaa also became Derbyshire’s NatWest T20 Blast shirt sponsor. Media reports have suggested that the partnership deal so far could be worth just under £500,000.
The sponsorship package, according to the cricket club’s website, includes 3aaa providing four high-quality, industry-experienced apprentices to join its off-field commercial and administration team. The partnership deal was extended in 2015 to include sponsorship of the new pavilion, renamed the 3aaa Pavilion.
A cricket club spokesman said: “Derbyshire County Cricket Club has been advised that principal partner, 3aaa Apprenticeships, has entered administration. The club will continue to monitor the situation.
“At this time, our thoughts are with the staff and apprentices who are impacted and we hope a positive outcome can be achieved.”
New apprenticeships with 3aaa were suspended four weeks ago and the company’s founders – Peter Marples and Diane McEvoy-Robinson – announced they were leaving the business, after a decade, to spend more time with their families.
Mr Marples, 54, who lives at Morley Manor, Morley, has now also resigned as chairman of the Spencer Academies Trust, which sponsors 17 schools in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas, including John Port Spencer Academy, Etwall, and Wyndham Primary Academy, in Alvaston.