Adventure Activities Legislation Report

Adventure Activities Legislation Report

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Adventure Activities Legislation Report – SAAF gives the views of the Outdoor Sector in Scotland!

The  Adventure Activity licensing scheme is to become a devolved responsibility  at some time  in the near future, subject to Westminster legislative timetabling. The Scottish Adventure Activity Forum (SAAF) was engaged by the Scottish Government to review the existing legislation around Adventure Activities in Scotland, with a view to developing the legislation to reflect the views of the outdoor sector and its end users  and ensure it is up to date and fit for purpose.   SAAF started this work with the Scottish Government in September 2011, when Shona Robison, MSP and Minister for Sport, took up this topic with the intention of ensuring that young people in Scotland would continue to be protected when they took part in adventure activities , following the transfer of responsibility.    The Scottish Government undertook  their own consultation at that time, but for a variety of reasons were unable to progress to the next steps.  Subsequently SAAF was engaged in August 2014 to review the legislation and discuss the needs of the outdoor sector, and through a series of meeting and an online survey, were able to draw out the views of some 200 providers, instructors and end users. These views were used to form the basis of the report which was submitted to the Scottish Government on 31st March 2015.      

The report has both an Executive Summary and a Full Report, giving the recommendations for changes to be made and the mechanisms to be used to manage any potential inspection regime in Scotland, the report should be of interest to Mountain Bike Leaders and tutors and anyone providing adventurous activities in Scotland.

SAAF are grateful to everyone who took part in the consultation for their input, and plan to continue to work with the Scottish Government to develop the recommendations and the subsequent legislation.

The membership of SAAF is made up of local authority representatives, social work representatives, the voluntary sector, individual commercial providers, and large commercial providers of outdoor activities. The SAAF website gives more detail and can be found at; www.thesaaf.org.uk