Pegasus old chap,
Agreed it is but a part of the whole activity spectrum, but the key clue lies in the first word of the organisation ACO - i.e., "AIR". If they want to major on filling customer's shopping bags in Supermarkets, Sport and cookery then remove the word "AIR" from ACO, give them an apron and a pair of plimsolls.....................
With regard to your comment about previous reductions in Gliding - I can't remember any in my 40 years - if anything they were the halcyon years of new aircraft, new all sorts. The hooo haaa now and the > 500,000 hits on this web site are the result of an extraordinary cock up in dealing with maintaining a relatively simple aircraft fleet, whether it be the RAF or their MoD appointed sub contractors. One thing for sure is that whether it was direct labour or indirect who failed in their duties, the overall Supervisory responsibility for the current farce remains with the RAF Officers at ALL levels who have failed to supervise the Eng function - largely I suspect as the RAF were metal centric and lacking expertise in GRP aircraft.
There's not even a guarantee that the current plan will deliver and yet despite that risk, considerable sums of mine and your taxpayer cash has been spent on building residential facilities at so called "Centres" - some of which have no guaranteed future and one or two with no decent Wx - well at least they can have a Cotswolds short break without any flying - mind you based on the current number of serviceable A/C, ( last heard of as 10 of which 3 have had to go back) , there's a good chance that it could be a long time before too many Cadet backsides get off the ground. £22M spent thus far, and not a lot to show except new buildings here and there.
Never mind, a new incumbent of the office of 2 FTS in 2017 may have a new plan, but meantime the Commandant kept her backside in the air recently wing walking on a Stearman. Probably the sole flying for the ACO 75th Anniversary year !