"In Touch"

This is a new system that has been piloted in the Region between February and August 2009 and replaces the Old 'Home Contact' system. This system should be used as a means of contact for every event or activity from the weekly meeting to the International camp. In Touch gives full details including Questions and Answers and a Presentation on the system.

There is a useful 'Emergency Procedures Card (Purple Card)' available from the Information Centre at Gilwell free of charge. It can be requested from Info Centre and doing a search for Purple Emergency. or under 'General Activities'. The Catalogue code is "EMPC".

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POR - Policy, Organisation and Rules

POR Chapter 9 (Jan 2010) covers various aspects of the rules relating to Activities.

POR Chapter 7(Jan 2010) covers the situation of Emergency Procedures should an incident arise.

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Land Activities

Fact Sheets including walking, climbing, caving, snow sports, Aerial Runways, Bungee Running (NOT JUMPING), pioneering, motorised activities.

Many of the 'Land Activities' are controlled by Terrain Classifications. A graphical view of Terrain Classification is available in a new page but POR should be referred to for the latest definitions.

• Terrain Zero covers activities up to a height of 500 metre above sea level and you must be with 30 minutes from a road which can take an ordinary road-going ambulance or a building which is occupied (such as a farm) or another means of calling help (such as a telephone box).There must be no scrambling involved in the activity.
• Terrain One covers activities between 500 metres and 800 metres above sea level and you must be more than 30 minutes and less than 3 hours from a road which can take an ordinary road-going ambulance or a building which is occupied (such as a farm) or another means of calling help (such as a telephone box).There must be no scrambling involved in the activity.
• Terrain Two covers activities above 800 metres above sea level and you must be more than 3 hours from a road which can take an ordinary road-going ambulance or a building which is occupied (such as a farm) or another means of calling help (such as a telephone box).There must be no scrambling involved in the activity.

There is also a limitation of party sizes if you are holding activities in Terrain 1 or Terrain 2. See POR Rule 9.32 for full details but the fundamentals are :-

• Parties must consist of no more than seven, but no less than four people.


• Each party must have a leader holding a permit or a designated party leader.
• If more than one group is formed the parties must use different routes or, if using the same route, leave a clear time and distance interval between them – so that they do not become mixed.

Also see the section on Activity Permits

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Water Activities

Boat Certificates are required for any canoe or vessel owned or operated by the 'Scout Association' and that includes Groups and Units and any personal vessels used in a Scout Activity.

There are specific requirements regarding swimming. Members taking part in any water activity should be able to demonstrate to a suitable person (such as the Leader) their ability to swim 50 metres in light clothes and keep afloat for five minutes. There are relaxations for specific activities. Please refer to POR Chapter 9 Rule 42 for full details.

Water Classification - waters are classified according to risk and are described in POR Chapter 9 Rule 44. There is a specific Fact Sheet on Class 'C' Waters FS 120623 which defines safe inland waters.

Also see the section on Activity Permits

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Day Activities

For activities which are non-residential it is also necessary to obtain permission from parents/guardians. The nature of these activities and outings will vary from Section to Section ranging from a trip to the zoo for Beaver Scouts to night hikes for Explorer Scouts. The details are on Fact Sheet FS120081 with details of how to use the form or if you are familar with it's use then the form itself can be found here

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Nights Away

Nights Away Permit Scheme - all about taking the young people away overnight, whether it be in a hall, a recognised camp site or a 'green field'.

Nights Away Fact Sheets. These fact Sheets cover the Nights Away Permit Scheme which describes the system, Nights Away Information Sheet for handing out to parents/guardians, Nights Away Notification to give to your DC for approval, as well as other useful information.

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Activity Permits

In order to organise a number of activities, there must either be a leader with the relevant Scout Activity Permit OR using an organisation that has the Instructors approved to a specific standard or licensed under the The Adventurous Activities Licensing Authority(AALA).

Details of the Scout Association Activity Permit System can be had on this link.

There are three levels of Permit available a) Personal b) Leadership and c) Supervisory.
A Personal Permit is for under 18 years olds. This is to allow them to take part in adventurous activities without the need for someone with a leadership or supervisory permit to be present. They can participate with others with personal permits, but can not participate with or lead anyone without a permit.
A Leadership Permit allows you to lead an activity for a group of young people. You need to remain with the group throughout the activity.
and a Supervisory Permit allows you to remotely supervise a number of groups taking part in the activity.

There are four steps in assessing the suitability of a person for a Permit

1. Technical Competence - This is assessed by the Approved Assessor and looks at the specific technical skills required to run the activity. It is usually assessed through a practical assessment.
2. Scout Association Rules - This can be assessed by either a Regional Assessor, or the responsible Commissioner when using an External Assessor. It looks at whether the Applicant is aware of the activity Rules and how they affect the activity within Scouting.
3. Child Protection - (not for personal permits) – This will be carried out by the responsible Commissioner and ensures that the necessary Personal Enquiry checks have been carried out and the appropriate child protection training has taken place.
4. Personal Suitability - This is carried out by the responsible Commissioner, often in conjunction with a Group Scout Leader or similar, to check the Applicant is suitable (in terms of attitude) to be leading an adventurous activity for young people.

This link to A to Z of Activities will take you to a list of activities. Selecting an Activity on this page will take you to a new page with details on how to provide the activity as a Scout Lead or by a Commercial lead effort, details of the applicable Fact Sheets and detail the applicable POR Rules (remembering that in South West Scotland we apply the In Touch versions of some of these rules.

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