Explorer Scouts, frequently shortened to Explorers, is the fifth section of The Scout Association in the United Kingdom for 14- to 18-year-olds. The section was introduced in 2001 and formally launched in February 2002, alongside Scout Network, to replace the former Venture Scout section for fifteen-and-a-half to twenty-year-olds. Following on from the Scout section, Explorer Scouts are run in Units at a District level as opposed to the more local Group level that run the younger sections. In addition to earning activity badges in common with younger sections, Explorers are able to attain the highest awards in the movement such as the Queen's Scout Award. Part of the programme for the section is the Young Leader's scheme, which trains Explorer Scouts in leadership methods and allows them to volunteer with the younger sections of the movement. History The Explorer Scout section was created in the first years of the twenty first century. The preceding decade had seen the Scout Association lose 30,000 members per year, leading to a review of the programme began in 1995 and launched from 2001 onwards. The section officially launched in February 2002 with the previous sections, notably Venture Scouts, and age ranges being phased out by December 2003. Unlike the younger sections and the former Venture Scout section, which was run at a local Scout Group level, the new Explorer Scout section is run at a district level with units placed to cover the entire area. When it was set up, the activity programme for the section followed eight programme zones that matched those of the Scout Network section. This was to change however in 2008 when the first four sections began using six programme zones covering the same themes (even if the names differed to be age appropriate for the section). In 2003 the programme for the section was expanded with the launch of the Young Leaders scheme, allowing Explorer Scouts and those of a similar age to volunteer with the younger sections as part of the leadership team. The scheme was an unexpected success and the number of Explorer Scouts volunteering as Young Leaders had reached 10,394 by 2012, within the first 10 years of the scheme. In 2012 the section, along with Scout Network, celebrated their tenth anniversaries with a uniform badge available to celebrate the occasion. Between August and December 2013, a youth consultation was held into the future of Scouting