COVID-19 Announcement - 14th July 2020
COVID-19 Announcement - 23rd October 2020
GSMs – for distribution to all leaders
After being approached about permission to take Senior Scouts hiking, the decision was made to say that is currently not allowed for Scouts and Senior Scouts.
There are reasons to support this decision.
- Current guidance from the Government is groups of six can meet outside, for B-PSA this means 5 Scouts / Seniors and one adult supervisor or 4 Scouts / Seniors and Two adult supervisors, if there is more than one group out hiking they would not be able to meet.
- This is then affected by the tier that the Scout Groups area is under, in tier 1 and 2 groups of 6 can meet outside if in tier 3 people can only meet from the same household.
- In Wales you currently cannot meet anyone outside your own household.
- NYA guidance is that outdoor areas are to be covid secure, meaning nobody from outside the Group can access the area, ie marking off an area of a local park or using a playing field.
In the letter B-PSA COVID-19 Starting Back face to face meetings dated 12/9/20 it was stated that we were working on getting section meetings back, not outdoor activities.
The guidance about outdoor activities such as hiking will be reviewed in January 2021 unless there is a big drop in infection rates.
Regards
Covid-19 Team
COVID-19 Announcement - 2nd November 2020
For all Leaders
After the Government announcement on 31 October about a second lockdown in England, all B-PSA face to face activities will be suspended from 0001 hours Thursday 5th November until Wednesday 2nd December 2020. Online meetings such as zoom can still take place with the appropriate measures in place.
In the last week of lockdown, we will advise Groups if there are any further restrictions to be implemented before reopening face to face meetings on Wednesday 2nd December.
In Wales, Groups will have to comply with local guidance once their current lockdown is lifted.
All Groups who have completed a starting back Risk Assessment will not have to resubmit another one unless something substantially changes such as a change of meeting place.
If anyone has any questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
COVID-19 Announcement - 6th November 2020
The guidance for Remembrance Sunday changed on 5th November.
Members of B-PSA Groups can attend a service as long as the following criteria are met.
- Only a wreath layer plus leader or a leader on their own can attend.
- Follow the guidance in the above link, especially the 2m distancing.
The organiser should have completed a risk assessment which should be read by all attending before the service.
Any questions please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
COVID-19 Announcement - 20th December 2020
- The Government in response to increasing infection ratesdue to a new strain of the Covid Virus, have introduced a new level, Tier 4.
- Government and NYA guidance states that any Groups in Tier 4 area’s CANNOT meet under any circumstance.
- Groups in Tier 1, 2 and 3 areas can carry on meeting as previous guidance.
- Groups in Wales can meet following guidance released by the Welsh government on 18 December see link below.
Have a safe Christmas
Covid Team
References:
Leaving your home and seeing other people: alert level 3 | GOV.WALES
COVID-19 Announcement - 6th March 2021
After the Government’s announcement on the road map out of lockdown and the response from the NYA on Tuesday 2nd March 2021, the following advice is being put out by the B-PSA for Groups in England.
The NYA Has produced the following guidance 1020-NYA-COVID19-V5-final.pdf Please take time to read it,be aware it will be updated regularly. The government has proposed to withdraw the previous four tier process in favour of a national Roadmap approach.
The Roadmap has four steps (although Step 1 has two parts): The government has outlined a four step plan for reducing restrictions across England. In summary:
- Step 1A 8th March School’s return.
- Step 1B 29th March Youth outdoor activities permitted.
- Step 2 12th April Indoor and outdoor activities (indoors 6 max)
- Step 3 17th May Indoor and outdoor activities (no limit on numbers)
- Step 4 21st June all restrictions lifted.
The only date set in stone is 8th March when the schools return, we are still at level red for face to face meetings, so can only meet online. The readiness level will change as and when government advice changes. All thedates are all provisional and can change depending on the situation in England, you are advised not to plan any activities where you have to pay upfront until dates are confirmed.
As most of our leaders and none of the Youth of the Association will not have been vaccinated by step 3, all the current B-PSA Covid rules will remain in place, ie bubbles of 15, 2m social distancing, face masks for Scout Section upwards, and Covid risk assessments for every section meeting.
Please take the time from 8th March to revisit your Groups Covid Risk assessments and update them if required. At the same time if your Group met on Zoom please plan how you are going to get all individuals in your sections to the same level, this is so we do not discriminate those who could not join in online meetings.
In Wales the Government has imposed Alert level 4, which only permits online meetings, no face to face, when this changes we will update the Wessex Area.
If you have any questions contact the Covid Team c/o This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., please do not contact other organisations such as the NYA directly, as we may have imposed extra rules to ensure safety in our many activities.
Keep safe,
Covid Team