240126DraftResourceMinute

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Draft Resources Com­mit­tee Minutes 26 Janu­ary 2024 Page 1 of 3

Dr Draft Minutes of the Resource Com­mit­tee Meet­ing Held at Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity and Vir­tu­ally 26 Janu­ary 2024 09.05am

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

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

Apo­lo­gies None

Minutes from the pre­vi­ous meet­ing for approval

1. The minutes from the meet­ing on the 10 Novem­ber 2023 were approved with no amendments.

Mat­ters arising not covered from pre­vi­ous meeting

1. 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. This mat­ter was noted as open.

Declar­a­tions of interest

1. No declar­a­tions of interest were made.

Cairngorms Draft Resources Com­mit­tee Minutes Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 26 Janu­ary 2024 Page 2 of 3

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 month 8 of the ²⁰²³⁄₂₄ fin­an­cial year — 30 Novem­ber 2023.

2. The Resources Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments: a) Dav­id Camer­on, Dir­ect­or of Cor­por­ate Ser­vices and Deputy CEO, high­lighted that where pos­sible expendit­ure com­mit­ments would be brought for­ward to alle­vi­ate pres­sure for 2024 and help break even for 2023. b) A Mem­ber sought clar­ity on staff­ing and intern­al recruit­ment for the Cairngorms 2030 pro­ject. Kate Christie, Head of Organ­isa­tion­al Devel­op­ment cla­ri­fied that recruit­ment had com­menced, employ­ing five posts through the intern­al recruit­ment round. There was not a default pos­i­tion that roles vacated by intern­al recruit­ment have to be replaced. Each post vacated is con­sidered by the Seni­or Man­age­ment Team. Of the five vacated pos­i­tions two have not been back filled.

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

3. Update on Budget Pos­i­tion for ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Oper­a­tions presen­ted the paper which sets out the cur­rent pos­i­tion of the Park Authority’s ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ fin­an­cial year budget devel­op­ment. The paper provided the Com­mit­tee with the oppor­tun­ity to con­sider the over­all budget pos­i­tion togeth­er with the impact of any key assump­tions made in estab­lish­ing budget estim­ates at this point in the ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ budget devel­op­ment process.

4. The Resources Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments: a) Dis­cus­sion was had around the increase in cap­it­al budget, the reas­ons for that, and pre­dicted reduc­tion in oper­a­tion­al plan expendit­ure from Grant in Aid.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Draft Resources Com­mit­tee Minutes 26 Janu­ary 2024 Page 3 of 3

b) Dis­cus­sion was had on the pres­sure that the Cairngorm Nation­al Park Author­ity ranger ser­vice, and part­ner ranger ser­vices, would be facing in the sum­mer of 2024 due to poten­tial changes in budgets across part­ners con­trib­ut­ing to ranger pro­vi­sion across the Cairngorms. Mem­bers noted that the cur­rent Park Author­ity budget provided for main­ten­ance of ranger ser­vices over­all at levels equi­val­ent to the cur­rent year.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Resources Com­mit­tee is invited to: a) review the pos­i­tion achieved in devel­op­ment of the ²⁰²⁴⁄₂₅ fin­an­cial year budget and provide any feed­back to officers pri­or to the present­a­tion of the budget pro­pos­als to the full board on 22 March 2024.

1. The Com­mit­tee noted the paper.

2. Action point arising: none

Health and Safety Com­mit­tee 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 Health and Safety mat­ters generally.

2. The Resources Com­mit­tee dis­cussed the paper and made the fol­low­ing com­ments: a) Dis­cus­sion was had on how safety of staff mem­bers who have more remote jobs was ensured. Issues with mobile cov­er­age were raised. This is being mit­ig­ated through a num­ber of actions: mov­ing to a pro­vider with a bet­ter range for those who needed it; GPS track­ing devices; a buddy sys­tem and PeopleSafe (a con­trac­ted mon­it­or­ing ser­vice) escal­a­tion measures.

AOCB None

1. Date of next meet­ing: 17 May 2024