Who’ll do the reviews?

The operational review will be completed by a team of staff and volunteers, as is usual for large international events, co-chaired by one trustee and by the chair of the Events and Contingents Committee.

The panel for the independently-led review has been identified by and agreed by the Board of Trustees. There are five members, including an independent Chair who is external to Scouts, and at least one other member who is independent and external to Scouts. This panel includes:

Paul Blanchard, Chair, independent member

Paul has over 30 years in the sports industry and until recently was Chief Executive of Commonwealth Games England (CGE), the organisation responsible for the management of Team England at the Commonwealth and Commonwealth Youth Games. 

During his eight year tenure, he managed significantly sized, diverse and inclusive teams to the Gold Coast and Birmingham Commonwealth Games as well as Youth teams to events in Samoa and Bahamas. As host association for the recent Birmingham Games, he was very heavily involved in the bidding and planning for and delivery of the major event last summer.

Prior to CGE, Paul worked in a number of different sectors within the industry including Higher Education and was chair of Active Surrey, the organisation responsible for sport delivery in the County.

Alison Oliver, independent member

Ali is the Chief Executive at the Youth Sport Trust, an independent UK charity devoted to building a brighter future for young people through the power of sport. Ali joined the Youth Sport Trust in 2004 as a member of the Senior Leadership Team and became the CEO in 2016. Prior to this, Ali was the Deputy Director of Sport at the University of Bath, where she led the English Institute of Sport project and created the TEAMBath Netball franchise.

Ali is a Trustee of both Chance to Shine and Youth United Foundation, and sits on the Board of the Sport for Development Coalition. In 2019 Ali received an honorary doctorate of the University of Bath, and in 2020 was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Aidan Jones, Scouting background

As one of six children, Scouting became Aidan’s second family when he joined as a Cub Scout more than 50 years ago. He had several local Scouting leadership roles in the UK before becoming a volunteer at Kandersteg International Scout Centre (1989/90 winter season). He stayed at the Centre until 1996, firstly as Assistant Director for two years and then as Director for four years. Aidan is currently Chairperson of KISC, having been elected in 2018.

In 1999, Aidan became Assistant Director, Programme and Development at TSA, which included being the lead member of staff overseeing the UK’s contingent to the WSJ in Thailand (2002/03). In 2003, Aidan took on the role of Executive Director for EuroJam in 2005 and Scouting’s Centenary Jamboree in 2007.

As Chief Executive of WorldSkills London 2011 and Executive Director of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, Aidan has overseen the successful delivery of two world championships of vocational skills.
Aidan was Chief Operating Officer of the World Scout Bureau from 2012-14, where he was responsible for the comprehensive review of the secretariat and subsequent change management programme. Since 2018, Aidan has been Chief Executive of Relate, the largest provider of relationship support in England and Wales.

Dan Wood, Scouting background

For the last decade, Dan has held a number of executive and non-executive senior leadership appointments at board level in large complex organisations including highly regulated, politically sensitive and operationally demanding environments such as policing, the health service, fire and rescue, and higher education.

Alongside other volunteering, Dan has held many leadership roles over the years in Scouting at local (Group, District and County), national (Boards and Teams) and international level including participating in several World Scout Jamborees and representing the UK at World Scout Conferences, Task Forces/Committees and other many other international events and activities. Dan stood down prematurely from the International Commissioner role about eight years ago largely to focus on the significant demands in his career at the time.

Nigel Hailey, Scouting background

Nigel Hailey has recently stood down as the County Commissioner for Warwickshire and is currently an acting District Commissioner in the County. He was the International Commissioner for the UK from 2008 to 2014 and a member of the Board of Trustees from 2014-2017. Nigel has attended six World Scout Jamborees in varying roles including on the Contingent Management Team in 2003 to Thailand and as Deputy Director for the 2007 Jamboree in the UK.

Professionally, Nigel is a Civil Engineer and is currently Director of Arup where he was the Global Highways Leader and led large multi-disciplinary projects. Nigel will shortly be retiring.