080923DraftMinutesPerformanceCttee

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ügh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Draft Minutes of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity office, Grant­own on Spey

In per­son

8 Septem­ber 2023 at 2.30pm

Present Kenny Deans (Con­vener) Doug McAdam Chris Beat­tie Ann Ross Steve Mickle­wright Sandy Brem­ner Elean­or Mackintosh

In Attend­ance Grant Moir, CEO Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices and Deputy CEO Colin McCle­an, Head of Land Man­age­ment Andy Ford, Dir­ect­or for Nature and Cli­mate Change James Ade, Clerk to the Board

Apo­lo­gies None

Wel­come and introduction

1. The Chair wel­comed every­one to the meet­ing of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Declar­a­tions of interest
2. Doug McAdam noted for trans­par­ency con­nec­tions to items of busi­ness on the agenda: he Chairs a Deer Man­age­ment Group and is a mem­ber of the Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject Board.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ügh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Minutes of Pre­vi­ous Meet­ings & Mat­ters Arising

1. The minutes of the pre­vi­ous meet­ing, 9 June 2023 held in per­son, were approved.

2. Action points arising from pre­vi­ous meet­ings: i. i. ii. a) 11 Feb­ru­ary 2022 Para 19ii) — Report relat­ing to Vis­it Scot­land fund­ing to be brought to the Com­mit­tee. b) 9 June 2023 Para 8i) CEO to cir­cu­late out­come of the meet­ing with peat­land deliv­ery part­ners. Closed – CEO gave an update with noth­ing to cir­cu­late as a note. Para 16i) The Dir­ect­or for Nature and Cli­mate Change to feed­back to the fest­iv­al steer­ing group mem­bers com­ments on timing.

3. Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices and Deputy CEO informed the Com­mit­tee that an addi­tion­al £149,000 had been secured for com­munity led cap­it­al pro­jects from Scot­tish Government.

Cairngorms Peat­land Action Pro­gramme (Paper 1)

1. Colin McCle­an, Head of Land Man­age­ment, intro­duced the paper which presents an update on the deliv­ery of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s Peat­land ACTION pro­gramme in 2023 – 24.

2. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the update and made the fol­low­ing com­ments and obser­va­tions: a) Mem­bers raised ques­tions around secur­ity for con­tract­ors and the num­ber of con­tract­ors tak­ing on work. Officers informed Mem­bers that the Park Author­ity have multi-year fund­ing in some cases giv­ing con­tract­ors secur­ity and are hop­ing to extend the use of such con­tracts. Con­tract­or num­bers are expand­ing. b) Mem­bers and Officers dis­cussed the pos­sib­il­ity of estates apply­ing for fund­ing and car­ry­ing out peat­land res­tor­a­tion pro­jects them­selves using their own staff and equip­ment. Officers agreed that this is a good mod­el and will help with upscal­ing the num­ber of pro­jects as estates have ves­ted interest. How­ever, there are com­plic­a­tions around sub­sidy con­trol and prov­ing value for money, though both these con­sid­er­a­tions can be man­aged. The caveat for estates is the ini­tial out­lay of buy­ing expens­ive machinery.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ügh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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c) A Mem­ber com­men­ted that the amber risk in the per­form­ance dash­board around staff­ing feels like a sig­ni­fic­ant risk. The Head of Land Man­age­ment respon­ded that grow­ing the team would help with scal­ing up, but cur­rently the Park Author­ity are work­ing at full capa­city. The Head of Ser­vice would like to able to pre­cure pro­ject sup­port for the fol­low­ing summer.

1. The Com­mit­tee noted the paper.

2. Action Point Arising: none.

Her­it­age Hori­zons Update (Oral)

1. Dav­id Clyne, Head of Her­it­age Hori­zons, gave an update on the her­it­age hori­zons application.

2. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the update and made the fol­low­ing com­ments and obser­va­tions: a) Mem­bers ques­tioned what the 13 new roles that were being recruited were and does the scale of the build­ing need recon­sid­er­ing. Officers respon­ded that the Clerks can dis­trib­ute the staff­ing mat­rix and that due to flex­ible work­ing pat­terns the build­ing can accom­mod­ate the increase in staff. b) A mem­ber ques­tioned how intern­al recruit­ment would be man­aged if fund­ing has not yet been secured. The Head of Her­it­age Hori­zons respon­ded that any appoint­ments will be in prin­ciple and sub­ject to fund­ing being secured. If there is not a pos­it­ive out­come around fund­ing then the Park Author­ity will have to man­age the staff who have applied and their expect­a­tions, and the link of roles in ques­tion to the fund­ing bid will be made clear at the out­set. How­ever, it is seen as a pos­it­ive if staff want to stay in the organ­isa­tion and pro­gress with their careers, with the C2030 provid­ing a poten­tial oppor­tun­ity for some staff in main­tain­ing and extend­ing their careers with the Park Authority.

3. The Com­mit­tee noted the paper.

4. Action Point Arising: none.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Terms of Ref­er­ence and Scope (Paper 2)

1. Dav­id Cameon, Deputy Chief Exec­ut­ive and Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices intro­duced an over­view of the scope of work to date of the Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee togeth­er with a remind­er of the agreed terms of ref­er­ence of the Com­mit­tee with­in the con­text of the Park Authority’s wider com­mit­tee structure.

2. The Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the update and made the fol­low­ing com­ments and obser­va­tions: a) Mem­bers raised that they would like to see papers com­ing to the Com­mit­tee on the Beaver and Wild­cat Releases; the Rap­tor Pro­ject; and on wood­land res­tor­a­tion. Andy Ford, the Dir­ect­or for Nature and Cli­mate Change, respon­ded that these could come to the com­mit­tee under the broad­er title of Cairngorms Nature Action Plan. b) A Mem­ber raised they would like to see a Paper on the Ranger Ser­vice com­ing to the Com­mit­tee. The Deputy Chief Exec­ut­ive and Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices respon­ded that one off papers can come to the Com­mit­tee and this would fit with that.

3. The Com­mit­tee noted the paper.

4. Action Point Arising: none.

AOCB

1. The Chair informed the Com­mit­tee that this was Doug McAdams last meet­ing, thank­ing him for his work as Vice Chair.

The meet­ing closed at 2.30pm