It was back in 2005, following a 20-year decline in membership, that the Scouts went on a mission to become more inclusive. And it’s working: Girls now make up roughly a third of membership. Neurodivergent children flock in droves for the non-classroom environment. And of the 200 Scout sections that have opened in the past year, 83 have been in Britain’s most deprived areas.
To add to this, they now have an additional weapon in their arsenal – explorer and TV presenter Dwayne Fields. The 41-year-old was appointed Chief Scout in September. It is a timely appointment; a recent report by the Youth Endowment Fund revealed that one in five (20 per cent) of children said they had been victims of violence in the past year, with knife crime in London hitting a record high.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/26/chief-scout-dwayne-fields-interview/
