Scout leaders come under fire for ‘woke recruitment drive’ with eight ‘diversity and inclusion’ roles – but furious parents demand more staff who actually ‘know wilderness survival skills, abseiling or canoeing’

Scout leaders have come under fire after launching a massive woke recruitment drive.

Critics hit out at the organisation after it boasted it is looking for candidates to fill ‘no less than EIGHT new ‘equity, diversity and inclusion roles’.

They said hiring the new recruits represented ‘a massive investment’ in the movement’s ‘ambitious new EDI programme’.

Announcing the jobs on LinkedIn, Joanna Gregson, the Scouts’ Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, wrote: ‘I’m SO EXCITED to say that we’re recruiting no less than EIGHT new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion roles to support our race equity work and our ambitious new EDI programme.

‘This represents a massive investment by The Scouts, demonstrating its commitment to long-term, meaningful change – and I’m so proud to be a part of it.’

She went on to list the positions saying the movement is looking for an EDI programme manager, EDI project manager, EDI design manager, two EDI executives, EDI learning and development executive, EDI resolutions manager and senior researcher.

And Ms Gregson pledged that there was more to come, adding: ‘For all you HR EDI specialists out there – we’ve also one of those in the works too, so keep your eyes peeled!’

The post was greeted excitedly by Rosemary Ellingham – a full time Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Executive at the Scouts who was appointed in April 2022.

She wrote: ‘Such an exciting move for the Scouts to be making. Can’t wait to see our new team grow!! Thanks Joanna for all your hard work to get us to this point.

But not everybody was so impressed.

One angry parent said: ‘I wonder if any of these people know anything about teaching wilderness survival skills, abseiling or canoeing – they don’t seem to be on the Scouts’ list of priorities any more.

‘They’ve lost their sense of adventure and literally tied themselves up in knots with all this nonsense.’

Another contacted MailOnline saying: ‘I’m all for inclusion and treating people fairly, but do they really need so many equity, diversity and inclusion roles at Scouts HQ?

Ms Gregson pledged that there were more announcements to come, urging HR EDI specialists to ‘keep your eyes peeled’

‘Note that these are new roles, so I figure they’re on top of the ones they have already. Plus they seem to be VERY excited about this.

‘It all seems very woke to me. Is this how your average parent wants their membership subscriptions being spent?’

Ms Gregson began working for the Scouts in November 2021 after previously being Head of Enforcement at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Scouts employ around 300 people and roles currently being advertised range from annual salaries of between £21,674 and £62,000.

Many are based at the Scouts headquarters in Gilwell Park, Chingford, east London while some recruits are being offered home based or hybrid working.

Last year the Scouts came under fire after issuing a new woke style guide banning children from using the terms ‘falling on deaf ears’, ‘man made’ and ‘dinner ladies’.

Children are now prohibited from using ‘maiden name’ and ‘Christian name’ in a move to avoid causing offence to people of ‘all genders, religions, races and to those who live with a disability’.

Instead, Scouts are told to use ‘first name’ or ‘given name’ while ‘previous name’ is preferred to ‘maiden name’ as it is an ‘outdated term’.

Last year the Scouts came under fire after issuing a new woke style guide banning children from using the terms ‘falling on deaf ears’, ‘man made’ and ‘dinner ladies’

Also included are ‘school meals supervisors’ or ‘school dinner assistants’ instead of ‘dinner ladies’.

The document adds that Scouts, made up of children aged between 10 and 14, will now play ‘broken telephone’ instead of the traditional ‘Chinese whispers’ game.

And children are told not to use ‘down under’ to refer to Australia or New Zealand.

Earlier last year the Scout Association faced another backlash after introducing a ‘trans fun badge’ for members as young as four.

Youngsters were also offered a ‘bisexual fun badge’, a ‘lesbian fun badge’ and a ‘Pride fun badge’.

The woven designs feature rainbow or striped patterns behind the traditional fleur-de-lis symbol which was introduced by scouting’s war hero founder Robert Baden-Powell in 1907.

Lord Baden-Powell organised the first experimental camp at Brownsea Island that year and went on to write the book Scouting for Boys.

There are almost half a million youngsters in the Scout Association’s various divisions and more than 31 million Scouts, both boys and girls, in 216 countries and territories around the world.

Television presenter Bear Grylls is the Chief Scout, acting as figurehead of the organisation, while the Duchess of Cambridge and Duke of Kent are joint presidents.