Audit and Risk Committee meeting - Paper 1: Cover risk register - 14 November 2025

Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee Paper 1 14 Novem­ber 2025 Page 1 of 2

For dis­cus­sion Title: Stra­tegic risk registers Pre­pared by: Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Operations

Pur­pose This paper sup­ports a review by the Com­mit­tee of the Park Authority’s stra­tegic risk man­age­ment position.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee is asked to: a) Con­sider the cov­er­age and adequacy of the Park Authority’s stra­tegic risk man­age­ment pos­i­tion and advise on any gaps or amend­ments required to the cur­rent stra­tegic risk register. b) Con­sider the cov­er­age and adequacy of the Cairngorms 2030 pro­gramme risk man­age­ment pos­i­tion and advise on any gaps or amend­ments required to the cur­rent pro­gramme risk register.

Exec­ut­ive Summary

1. The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s most recent stra­tegic risk register, and stra­tegic risk man­age­ment pos­i­tion is set out in Annex 1. The register was last reviewed by the Exec­ut­ive on 17 Octo­ber 2025. Amend­ments made are shown in purple text.

2. No risk scores have been amended. Com­ments and mit­ig­a­tion actions have been updated for Risk IDs 6, 13, 14,15 and 16.

3. There remain 13 act­ive risks on the Stra­tegic Risk Register.

4. The Cairngorms 2030 pro­gramme risk register, and risk man­age­ment pos­i­tion is set out in Annex 2.

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Audit and Risk Com­mit­tee Paper 1 14 Novem­ber 2025 Page 2 of 2

1. The total pro­gramme risk pro­file was changed from Green to Amber in March, to reflect the sig­ni­fic­ant iden­ti­fied risks relat­ing to fund­ing for Act­ive Com­munit­ies trans­port pro­jects (Risk ID Nos 2 and 7). This risk is now sig­ni­fic­antly reduced by the award of fund­ing by Trans­port Scot­land, and the let­ting of the con­tract for design work on the Act­ive Com­munit­ies pro­jects. Con­sequently, risk 2 has been re- cat­egor­ised from amber to green, and risk 7 from red to amber. Cur­rently, risk 7 is the only one of the sev­en pro­gramme risks not rated green.

2. The amber rat­ing for risk 7 arises from a con­di­tion of this fund­ing, that it must be used by 31 March 2026. Con­sequently, the short times­cale for com­ple­tion of the work puts pres­sure on deliv­ery. Con­tinu­ation of these pro­jects past the ini­tial design stage will require a fur­ther award of fund­ing for ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇.

3. The Com­mit­tee is invited to con­sider the cur­rent cov­er­age of the risk registers as set out In the Annexes. The Committee’s views on the cur­rent status of the risk registers are welcomed.

Louise Allen Louiseallen@​cairngorms.​co.​uk 3 Novem­ber 2025