Scouts responds to Prevention of Future Death report

We take the conclusion of the inquest extremely seriously. We would like to restate our wholehearted apology to the Leonard family. Both for the death of their Ben, and for the anguish we recognise they have experienced over the past five and a half years. It was not the intention of anyone at Scouts to contribute towards any further pain, but we recognise that we have caused further distress and for that we are truly sorry.  
 
Keeping young people safe from harm remains our number one priority at Scouts. As an organisation we are committed to learning. As a result of Ben’s tragic death in 2018, we have already made many changes to our risk assessments, safety rules, training and support we give our volunteers, and we are now going further.
 
The inquest and HM Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report have led to significant reflection at the Scout Association. We have extensively discussed what they mean with our Board of Trustees and wider stakeholders. They have rightly dominated our thinking and we pledge that they will continue to do so. As a result, we are proposing fundamental changes to our approach to safety throughout Scouts.  
 
We have addressed the concerns of HM Coroner in our response to the PFD notice. Within our response we outline the actions we have taken since the inquest, the actions we will take, as well as the actions we have taken since Ben’s tragic death in 2018. 

This response further builds on the work we have undertaken after receiving the Prevention of Future Deaths notice in February 2020, and the further update provided in February 2021 to HM Coroner.
 
Scouts’ response has been published by the Chief Coroner’s Office. There are more than 25 key actions that we will be undertaking, which will be detailed in a publicly available action plan.
 
Some of the actions mentioned below are already in progress and we will work to support our members on the remainder of the significant changes over the coming months.
  
1. A Fatal Accident Investigation Panel for Ben’s death, with an external chair and independent panel members, was initiated within 48 hours of the conclusion of the inquest and is due for completion in June.   

2. A Critical Incident and Investigation Policy and a Duty of Candour Policy will be agreed by the Board in July, with these principles immediately implemented. This will provide a consistent framework in how we respond in future to serious incidents, emphasising the need for transparency and to quickly capture learning.  

3. We are commissioning a new strategic partnership with a nationally recognised organisation that is a leader in safety to review our current safety practices, and this party will act as a third-party reviewer. We anticipate that this partnership will be in place by the end of May and an initial review will be completed by October.  

4. We are commissioning enhanced supplementary safety training and validation for all 145,000 volunteers. This will become available from September 2024 with a target completion within the following six months. This is designed to further support volunteers, ensuring that everyone at Scouts understands what the safety requirements are, and that we all have the required competencies and knowledge in relation to risk assessments, terrain definitions, and requirements within our Policy Organisation and Rules (POR).  

5. We are investing in several new systems and resources that will transform access to information and monitoring. These include: 

• A new, movement-wide assurance framework to support our local leaders, and monitor and audit compliance, including in relation to safety.
  
  
• Additional staffing resource to support areas of safety, adventurous activities, training support, and local compliance.
   
• The implementation of a new approach to the auditing of adult training, including the provision delivered by County Training Managers under our new Audit and Assurance approach.
  
  
• We are undertaking a full review of permitting.
  
  
• A new Learning Management System and training packages, which will provide significantly enhanced role-specific training, including compliance data for volunteers and volunteer management roles across the movement.
  
  
• A new Adult Membership System that will give greater access to key information and transform how we assess, approve, and audit our Nights Away Application processes. 

Our PFD response includes our delivery plan to ensure our response to Ben’s death is more than words. We want the changes, undertaken and planned, to enable the thousands of volunteers delivering Scouting to continue safely doing so.

We will publish our progress against the plan on a quarterly basis in 2024 as part of our commitment to transparency and accountability. This will be available from Our Impacts and Reports on Scouts.org.uk. We will then include ongoing updates on progress as part of our new annual Safety Report. 

We understand our response must be more than a plan; it must be a comprehensive response to this tragedy, and a significant moment in our history that leads to an overhaul of our culture and systems. 

As leaders of the Scout movement, we want to state our commitment to ensuring that this is a transformative moment for Scouting at all levels. We are committed to learning, being honest and transparent, and building the trust of parents, young people, and wider stakeholders so that we remain true to our values of integrity, respect, care, belief, and co-operation.