THE Scout Association (TSA) has issued a “wholehearted apology” to the family of a boy who died after falling from the Great Orme on an Explorer Scouts trip.
Ben Leonard, 16, of Stockport, suffered fatal head injuries when he fell about 200ft after slipping in Llandudno on August 26, 2018.
On February 22, a jury concluded that Ben was unlawfully killed by the trip’s Explorer Scouts leader, and assistant Explorer Scouts leader, contributed to by neglect by TSA
David Pojur, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, then issued a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report, comprising 39 different areas of concern.
TSA’s 42-page response to the report was published today (April 30), in which it apologised to the Leonard family, and also outlined the changes it will make following the inquest.
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Extracts from the report read: “On behalf of TSA, we would like to express our wholehearted apology to the Leonard family – both for the death of Ben and for the anguish 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.
“This inquest, and HM Coroner’s PFD report, has led to significant soul-searching and reflection, with extensive discussions taking place within our board and with wider stakeholders.
“It has rightly dominated our thinking and we pledge that it will continue to do so. As a result, we are proposing fundamental changes to our approach to safety throughout the Scout movement.
“TSA is committed to learning from Ben’s tragic death. We know we can and must do better.”
The seven-week inquest, held at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, had heard that none of the trip leaders were suitably qualified first aiders, and that the Orme trip was not risk-assessed.
In his PFD report, Mr Pojur raised concerns that there is “not a culture of candour” within TSA, and that it is not held to account by a “robust regulator”.
He also noted that, five-and-a-half years on from Ben’s death, the organisation had yet to compile a fatal accident inquiry panel report.
Mr Pojur added that TSA’s safety training, predominantly completed online as a “click-through course”, is “superficial at best” and “fundamentally basic”.
Some of the participants on the trip were also aged 18 or older, which was deemed a safeguarding error.
When the leaders embarked on the walk up the Orme, and up Yr Wyddfa the previous day, none of them were in possession of a first aid kit.
Within moments of the jury delivering its conclusions at roughly 4.30pm on February 22, meanwhile, TSA issued its official response on its website.
Mr Pojur said: “TSA’s press release within moments of the jury’s conclusion demonstrates a failure of TSA to accept any accountability and understanding any proper learning from Ben’s death.
“TSA is institutionally defensive.”
In its response to the report, TSA said that, in light of Ben’s death and the subsequent inquest, it has agreed to put in place “concrete measures to adopt an enhanced culture of candour”.
These include new policies and training in respect of how it responds to critical incidents.
TSA is also “going further” in terms of seeking third party external review, inspection, advice and assurance, it said.
A new “Duty of Candour Policy” is being adopted, meanwhile, and from 2025, a new annual safety report will be published.
The response added: “We recognise that the lack of a Fatal Accident Investigation report into Ben’s death has added to the distress experienced by the Leonard family and to the challenges within the inquest process.
“As such, we are fully reviewing our approach to critical incidents. This will now include a new approach that we will call a Fatal Incident Investigation.”
It is also creating a new “Critical Incident and Investigation Policy”, which will be formally approved by its board in July.
The organisation has also amended its online training since the inquest, so that it can be no longer completed as a “click-through” exercise in as little as 12 minutes.
Its response added: “We acknowledge the concerns raised by HM Coroner with regard to the perception that members of TSA tried to control the narrative.
“To the best of our knowledge, it was not the intent of any individual within TSA to attempt to do so, however we have learned from this.
“We wholeheartedly apologise to the Leonard family for the timing of our press release.
“While we stand by the commitment that we made to learning in the statement, we accept that it was released too soon.”
None of the leaders on the Great Orme trip - Sean Glaister, Gareth Williams and Mary Carr – were suitably qualified first aiders, a breach of Scout rules.
TSA added: “There was clearly a breakdown in our internal systems that enabled Sean Glaister to be fully appointed to a role supervising young people, for which we take full accountability and have acted to prevent a similar situation being repeated.
“It was wrong for Sean Glaister to be appointed to the role of Explorer Leader in 2020, and we accept that anyone over the age of 18 should not have been on this trip without the correct planning and permissions.
“We accept that Sean Glaister should not have been granted a Nights Away permit based on the information he provided.”
The Charity Commission, which was also asked to respond to the report, said: “On March 19, the commission met with TSA’s chair of trustees, chief executive, executive director of operations and head of governance.
“It was apparent from our meeting that TSA considers the matter of Ben’s death as one of the utmost seriousness.
“In addition to the actions TSA confirmed to us it has already taken, TSA has made clear that it intends to make further improvements to safety and risk management in the Scout movement.
“We are continuing to examine the concerns and assess whether the actions already taken by TSA have been appropriate and if the further work to be undertaken is sufficient.
“I can confirm that, as a regulator, the commission would always cooperate fully with any public inquiry.”
The report was also sent to the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
In its response, it stated: “I have had initial contact from TSA in respect of their actions to date, but I will continue to seek updates on their actions to prevent future deaths or serious injuries in response to this report, alongside my counterpart, the Children’s Commissioner for England.”
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