Our response to the inquest outcome

We take the conclusion of the inquest extremely seriously. We want to restate our wholehearted apology to Ben Leonard’s family and our deepest sympathies continue to be with his family and friends. 
 
As an organisation we are committed to learning. The jury heard how in this instance the local leaders did not follow our safety rules and processes. 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.

We will closely review the coroner’s observations and adopt all further changes we can, to do everything in our power to stop such a tragic event happening again. We are committed to providing our formal response to the coroner by 18 April.

Keeping young people safe from harm remains our number one priority at Scouts. We emphatically refute allegations made in court about any criminal action on behalf of the Scout Association.