Cambridgeshire County Council Provision of a Bikeability Scheme

Bikeability is ‘cycling proficiency’ for the 21st century, designed to give the next generation the skills and confidence to ride their bikes on today’s roads. It is a national scheme, funded by the Department for Transport and run to national standards.

There are three ‘’Core’’ Bikeability levels, with each level designed to help improve children’s cycling skills, no matter what they know already. Levels 1, 2 and 3 take trainees on a journey from the basics of balance and control, all

the way through to planning and making a journey by themselves on busier roads. Children will typically start Bikeability lessons once they have learnt to ride a bike. Level 1 will help new riders to control their bike before they move on to developing on-road skills at Level 2. Level 2 is usually tackled by children in Years 5 or 6, before they leave primary school. Level 3 teaches trainees how to ride in different and more challenging traffic situations, and is usually completed by children of secondary school age.

Cycle training has been provided to schools in Cambridgeshire for many years and is currently being delivered via the Government’s national Bikeability scheme. Since 2009, the training has been outsourced to an external provider. They are managing the whole process from start to finish including the initial contact with schools, complete course administration, instructor training, Bikeability delivery and scheme monitoring. The current contract ends on 31st March 2021 and we would expect the new contract to commence on 1st April 2021 with a smooth transition and no disruption to the schools already booked in for training in the summer term. In addition to ‘’Core’’ Bikeability, (Levels 1, 2 & 3), funding is available to deliver Bikeability ‘’Plus’’ - a suite of additional cycling activities and extra training designed to ensure that children and families are given the opportunities, skills, support and guidance that they need to make cycling part of their everyday life. The offered Department for Transport Bikeability grant funding includes 10 Bikeability Plus modules. These are; Bikeability Balance, Bikeability Bus, Bikeability Fix, Bikeability Promotion, Bikeability On Show, Bikeability Parents, Bikeability Learn to Ride, Bikeability Recycled, Bikeability Ride, and Bikeability Transition. Delivery Guidance is available at https://professionals.bikeability.org.uk/documents/

The Provider would be expected to co-ordinate a selected programme of Bikeability Plus modules across a range of schools. It is expected that the Provider would manage the whole process from start to finish in exactly the same way as that of Bikeability detailed above. The Authority proposes to enter into one Contract for a period of 48 months with the preferred provider, with an option to extend for a further 12 months.