231110ApprovedResourceMinute

Minutes of the Resource Com­mit­tee Meet­ing Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and Vir­tu­ally 10 Novem­ber 2023 2.30pm

Present Rus­sell Jones (Chair) Xan­der McDade Han­nah Grist Sandy Brem­ner (Board Con­vener) Derek Ross Lauren McCallum

In Attend­ance Grant Moir, CEO Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices and Deputy CEO Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Oper­a­tions Kate Christie, Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment James Ade, Clerk to the Board

Apo­lo­gies None

Minutes from the pre­vi­ous meet­ing for approval

1. The minutes from the meet­ing on the 11 August 2023 were approved with no amendments.

Mat­ters arising not covered from pre­vi­ous meeting

1. No mat­ters arising

Declar­a­tions of interest

1. No declar­a­tions of interest were made.

Vot­ing of Com­mit­tee Vice Chair

1. Rus­sell Jones nom­in­ated Lauren Mac­Cal­lum to become Vice Chair of the Resources Com­mit­tee, seconded by Sandy Brem­ner. Lauren Mac­Cal­lum accep­ted the nomination.

Budget Mon­it­or­ing

1. Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Oper­a­tions, presen­ted the paper which sets out an over­view of the Park Authority’s budget man­age­ment pos­i­tion at the end of the second quarter of the ²⁰²³⁄₂₄ fin­an­cial year and high­lighted the fol­low­ing: a) Sig­ni­fic­ant under­spend against our phased budget in terms of expendit­ure, which con­tin­ues the pat­ter of expendit­ure found in pre­vi­ous years. b) Pres­sure on staff costs due to less staff turnover and vacancy sav­ings than anti­cip­ated. c) Oper­a­tion­al plan show­ing com­mit­ted spend of around £3.3 mil­lion as of the end of Octo­ber, around half of the annu­al budget. d) Likely under­spend in the peat­land res­tor­a­tion pro­gramme – the fore­cast under­spend will be con­firmed with Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment by the end of the cal­en­dar year to allow for any changes in fund­ing alloc­a­tions to be managed.

2. The Resources Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments: a) The Chair of the Resources Com­mit­tee ques­tioned if the under­spend on peat­land res­tor­a­tion can be car­ried for­ward to the next fin­an­cial year. The Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Oper­a­tions respon­ded that Officers were in the pro­cess of ask­ing Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment on this point.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Resources Com­mit­tee was asked to: a) Con­sider the budget man­age­ment pos­i­tion for ²⁰²³⁄₂₄.

1. The Com­mit­tee noted the paper.

2. Action point arising: none

2022/2023 Estim­ate Outturn

1. Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Oper­a­tions presen­ted the paper giv­ing an update on the estim­ated out­turn pos­i­tion for the ²⁰²²⁄₂₃ fin­an­cial year, inform­ing the Com­mit­tee that the fig­ures in this paper remain sub­ject to extern­al audit and any sig­ni­fic­ant changes will be presen­ted to the Com­mit­tee in Janu­ary 2024.

2. The Resources Com­mit­tee wel­comed the update and had no com­ments on the paper.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Resources Com­mit­tee was asked to: a) Con­sider the estim­ated out­turn pos­i­tion for the ²⁰²²⁄₂₃ fin­an­cial year

1. The Com­mit­tee noted the paper.

2. Action point arising: none

Resources Com­mit­tee annu­al report to board

1. Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices & Deputy Chief Exec­ut­ive presen­ted the draft Annu­al Report of the Resources Com­mit­tee to the Board.

2. The Resources Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments: a) A Mem­ber raised that they would like it to be reflec­ted that the Com­mit­tee had delt with items of busi­ness over the year, includ­ing the pay nego­ti­ations, which had a sig­ni­fic­ant impact on the Author­ity and which Staff and Mem­bers worked hard on. The Mem­ber added that it would be good to show the Board the due dili­gence taken and there­fore should be reflec­ted in the report. The Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices & Deputy Chief Exec­ut­ive respon­ded that he would be happy to draw out weight of some of the mat­ters in the report and the due dili­gence taken by Members.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Com­mit­tee was asked to: a) Review the draft Annu­al Report to the Board and agree any amend­ments pri­or to sub­mis­sion to the board in November.

1. The Com­mit­tee agreed to the officer’s recommendations.

2. Action Point Arising: none

Staff Con­sultat­ive For­um Minutes

1. Kate Christie, Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment, intro­duced this paper and noted that this is a stand­ard item that comes to the Com­mit­tee to provide over­sight of the meet­ing and of our engage­ment with staff.

2. Minutes were noted no fur­ther discussions/​actions.

Health & Safety Com­mit­tee Meet­ing Minutes

1. Kate Christie, Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment, intro­duced this paper, explain­ing that the Board have over­all respons­ib­il­ity for the health and safety of staff, and it was there­fore con­sidered appro­pri­ate for them to have over­sight of the H&SC meet­ing minutes.

2. The Resources Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the minutes and made the fol­low­ing com­ments: a) The Chair asked wheth­er there was a defib­ril­lat­or in the Nation­al Park Author­ity Office. The Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment respon­ded that while there is one out­side the Co-Oper­at­ive in Grant­own, there was not a defib­ril­lat­or in the build­ing but she would be happy to look into get­ting one as there was appet­ite for that with­in the Committee.

3. The Com­mit­tee noted the Minutes from the Health and Safety Committee.

4. Action Point Arising: i. The Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment to look into pur­chas­ing a defib­ril­lat­or to the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Grant­own Office and present this to the Resources Committee.

AOCB None

1. Date of next meet­ing: 26 Janu­ary 2024 Motion to move onto con­fid­en­tial ses­sion for reas­on of deal­ing with per­son­al and con­fid­en­tial data

Pub­lic ses­sion closed at 2.46pm