The Wharton weblog:

ICE SKATING: The National Ice Skating Association has called on Wharton Consulting's Neil Tunnicliffe to facilitate a series of workshop sessions for its Directors and staff, as the organisation formulates its strategic plan for the period 2009-12. This is a welcome return to the ice for Wharton who last worked with NISA in 2002, at which time it researched and drafted a strategic plan for association for the period 2003-07, followed by a governance and management review to institute a structure which was appropriate to deliver that plan. The first workshop will take place on Monday 6 July with NISA's Board of Directors. Neil Tunnicliffe said: "I'm excited to be back working with NISA again, to see the progress that the association has made in the past few years and to help them move on with the next phase of their development. There's no doubt that the sport has benefited in recent times from 'Dancing on Ice' and from the success of the short-track speed skaters at international level. It's a great time to think about how to capitalise on that success and to take it to the next level."

WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT: Wharton Consulting has been successful in a competitive tender process to evaluate progress made against the targets for performance and excellence sport which are set out in the Welsh Assembly Government's "Climbing Higher" strategy, published in 2005. This major project, which will run until July, will involve consulting widely within Wales to identify the achievements which have been recorded since the strategy was published, and the measures which are still required for its targets to be fulfilled. Its conclusions and recommendations will inform the development of policy on performance and excellence sport within Wales, including the potential recalibration of targets, the targeting of investment and the improvement of the national and regional sporting infrastructure. As Wales seeks to build on the recent success of its Olympians and Paralympians in Beijing, and of its national rugby team, this project is seen as a significant step towards institutionalising that success and making it sustainable and repeatable.

On Monday 9 February, at a press conference in Dublin, the Irish Sports Council published the quadrennial high performance review which Wharton Consulting has conducted on its behalf. The review consulted with a wide range of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, coaches and team managers, governing bodies and agencies involved in high performance sport. It found that all the targets set by the Athens Review four years ago have been achieved, and makes a number of recommendations as to how Ireland can maintain the upward trajectory which it has demonstrated over the past four years in the build-up to 2012. To read the press release and download the report, go to:

RUGBY LEAGUE: Sport England today announced its Whole Sport Plan allocation to sports for the period 2009-13 - and Rugby League was celebrating the grant of the third-highest award of the 46 sports funded, a total in excess of £29 million. The RFL's Plan, drafted with the support of Wharton's Neil Tunnicliffe, demonstrated elements which clearly appealed to Sport England, including the institution of non-traditional forms of the game such as tag and wheelchair rugby, and a significant increase in female participation.

IRFU: The Irish Rugby Football Union have commissioned Wharton's Neil Tunnicliffe to support their Domestic Game Committee in reshaping the way that the development of the game is delivered and monitored at provincial level. Neil will work with Domestic Game Manager Scott Walker over the next 12 months to deliver a new service-level agreement between the IRFU and the four provincial branches, and to construct a process through which the outputs of those SLAs can be monitored and measured. He will also support the DGC in reviewing the staffing structure which is operational on the ground in the provinces, making appropriate changes to that structure, and managing the process of change.