231110ResourcesCtteePaper3AnnualReport

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 3 10 Novem­ber 2023

Page 1 of 3

For decision Title: Resource com­mit­tee annu­al report to board Pre­pared by: Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices & Deputy Chief Exec­ut­ive Pur­pose This paper presents the draft Annu­al Report of the Resources Com­mit­tee to the Board. Recom­mend­a­tions The Resources Com­mit­tee is asked to review the draft Annu­al Report to the Board and agree any amend­ments pri­or to sub­mis­sion to the board in September.

Draft Resources Com­mit­tee Annu­al Report to Board for Peri­od August 2022 to Octo­ber 2023

Activ­ity in Period

1. The Resources Com­mit­tee was estab­lished fol­low­ing a review of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s board com­mit­tee struc­tures over the first quarter of ²⁰²¹⁄₂₂. The Com­mit­tee com­bined many of the respons­ib­il­it­ies of the pre­vi­ous Fin­ance and Deliv­ery and Staff­ing and Recruit­ment Committees.

2. The Com­mit­tee met on five times up to and includ­ing the meet­ing of 11 August 2023.

3. The Com­mit­tee has sought assur­ance over the fol­low­ing key aspects of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s oper­a­tions over the course of the report­ing peri­od: a) Staff pay response to the cost of liv­ing crises and sup­ple­ment­ary pay award effect­ive from 1 Octo­ber 2022;

Cairngorms Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 3 Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 10 Novem­ber 2023

Page 2 of 3 b) Staff pay award with effect from 1 April 2023; c) Scru­tiny of the busi­ness case for realign­ment of pay bands F and G against sec­tor bench­marks; d) Devel­op­ment of ²⁰²³⁄₂₄ budget; e) Budget mon­it­or­ing for both ²⁰²²⁄₂₃ and ²⁰²³⁄₂₄; f) Draft fin­an­cial out­turn pos­i­tion for ²⁰²²⁄₂₃; g) Deliv­er­ing the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s Equal­ity Duties, includ­ing scru­tiny of the Park Authority’s Equal Pay Audit; h) Staff engage­ment, includ­ing Staff Con­sultat­ive For­um dis­cus­sions; i) Evol­u­tion of staff terms and con­di­tions, par­tic­u­larly around the devel­op­ment of 35 hour work­ing week pro­pos­als; j) The Right to Dis­con­nect Charter; k) Health and Safety oper­a­tions; l) Staff Turnover and staff absence monitoring.

1. The Com­mit­tee also con­tin­ued dis­cus­sion around the poten­tial for devel­op­ing com­mer­cial income and the committee’s future con­sid­er­a­tion of this aspect of the Authority’s activ­ity toward the end of this report­ing peri­od. This area of activ­ity has not been explored extens­ively while the Park Author­ity con­tin­ues to focus on the poten­tial to secure sig­ni­fic­ant inward grant fund­ing and private fin­ance in sup­port of its activities.

Review of Activ­it­ies and Commentary

1. Over­all, the com­mit­tee feels it has been suc­cess­ful in dis­char­ging its remit and per­form­ing an appro­pri­ate and valu­able ele­ment of the Park Authority’s gov­ernance and assur­ance pro­cesses. Appro­pri­ate areas of over­lap with oth­er com­mit­tees on per­form­ance and risk man­age­ment have been recog­nised and min­im­ised, with mat­ters passed on between Committee’s with­in their remits as necessary.

2. The Com­mit­tee had a vari­able mem­ber­ship over the course of the year, reflect­ing the sig­ni­fic­ant turnover in board mem­ber­ship in the peri­od. Com­mit­tee Chair and Vice Chair also changed in the period.

3. The Com­mit­tee covered a wide range of sub­ject areas over the course of the peri­od of this report, as illus­trated by the sum­mary of top­ics covered at point 3, providing

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 3 10 Novem­ber 2023

Page 3 of 3 the board with assur­ance over the man­age­ment and con­trols exer­cised with­in these areas of the Park Authority’s operations.

1. The Com­mit­tee has not iden­ti­fied any changes required to its terms of ref­er­ence over the course of this report­ing period.

2. There have been no instances of need for escal­a­tion of con­cerns to the full board, while some minor mat­ters have been made known to oth­er com­mit­tees to enhance coordin­ated assur­ance over organ­isa­tion­al performance.

Con­clu­sions

1. The oper­a­tion of the Resources Com­mit­tee has provided an import­ant and effect­ive ele­ment of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s gov­ernance and assur­ance sys­tems. The Committee’s focus on the com­bin­a­tion of fin­an­cial and staff resource man­age­ment provides for a com­pre­hens­ive scru­tiny of the man­age­ment of these areas, while allow­ing for mem­bers to provide integ­rated stra­tegic dir­ec­tion and sup­port in the for­ward plan­ning of these key resources.

2. The Com­mit­tee believes there are no sig­ni­fic­ant changes needed in the Committee’s oper­a­tions over the com­ing year. Com­mit­tee mem­bers will con­tin­ue to work with seni­or officers to evolve and adapt report­ing struc­tures as required.

3. The Com­mit­tee is grate­ful to the sup­port of officers provided over the year, for full and clear papers and effect­ive, help­ful engage­ment at our meet­ings. Dav­id Camer­on davidcameron@​cairngorms.​co.​uk