Equalities Advisory Panel meeting minutes - March 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 1 of 3

EAP Meet­ing

Held vir­tu­ally on Tues­day 25^th March — 5.30pm – 6.30pm

Present: Linda Bam­ford Kev­in Hutchens Han­nah Grist (Chair) Oliv­er Dav­ies (CNPA) Shreo­shi Das Lil­liana Cor­ri­eri Kath­er­ine Will­ing (CNPA)

Apo­lo­gies: Kate Dowding Anita Howard Mar­isa Ginger Kate Christie (CNPA) Heath­er Earnshaw

1. Item one: Wel­come • Han­nah wel­comed every­one to the meeting.

2. Item two: Review of Minutes of Feb­ru­ary 2025 Meet­ing • The minutes from Feb­ru­ary 2025 were agreed. • Han­nah sug­ges­ted a ses­sion focused on a hori­zon scan­ning exer­cise and identi­fy­ing how the EAP can best sup­port CNPA.

3. Item three: Present­a­tion on SCVO Con­fer­ence – Kev­in Hutchens (EAP Mem­ber) • Han­nah gave a remind­er to the pan­el pri­or to the present­a­tion that the pan­el is non- par­tis­an. • Kev­in asked the pan­el wheth­er more needed to be done to pub­li­cise the work of the panel.

   • The pan­el felt pri­or to work­ing on pub­li­cising the work of the pan­el it was import­ant to identi­fy the pur­pose of any advert­ising, how this ties in with the func­tion of the EAP and what bene­fit this would bring to the EAP. The pan­el added that the audi­ence and mes­sage would need to be agreed pri­or to any work com­men­cing on this. • The pan­el felt it may be bene­fi­cial to do a bench­mark­ing exer­cise and look at wheth­er oth­er Nation­al Parks have a sim­il­ar group and how they pub­li­cise them.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 2 of 3

• It was agreed that the EAP plays an import­ant role and that there should be a dis­cus­sion on how the EAP shares its learn­ings and advoc­ates bey­ond ini­tial con­ver­sa­tions. • Kev­in next dis­cussed the talk he atten­ded which was led by Gor­don Brown dis­cuss­ing the import­ance of multi-year fund­ing for the vol­un­tary sec­tor. Kev­in asked the pan­el wheth­er there were any com­pan­ies the pan­el could sug­gest to part­ner with to provide sup­port for the com­munit­ies with­in Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

* The panel were reminded that the Cairngorms National Park Authority is not a
charity which may impact on eligibility to funding sources.
* The panel suggested that larger companies such as the Coop, Tesco and some of the
housebuilding companies offer funding on occasions.

• Kev­in atten­ded a talk by the Young Women’s Move­ment and asked CNPA to con­sider sign­ing the Young Women Work pledge.

* The pledge will be brought to and discussed by the HR Team.

• Kev­in atten­ded a talk led by care leav­ers dis­cuss­ing co-design prin­ciples. Kev­in put to the EAP that it may be bene­fi­cial to invite these young people to give a talk at an EAP meet­ing to dis­cuss how co-design prin­ciples can help the work of the EAP and how to get more young people involved in the EAP.

* It was suggested that it may be helpful to include this as part of a horizon scanning
exercise.
* It was agreed that the panel will continue to look at the best ways to engage in
supporting care leavers.

• Kev­in atten­ded a talk about cre­at­ing men­tally healthy work­places. Kev­in flagged that there are free resources at Scot­tish Asso­ci­ation for Men­tal Health. Kev­in explained the talk did not ref­er­ence the import­ance of green space on good men­tal health and was this some­thing that the pan­el and CNPA could sup­port the Scot­tish Asso­ci­ation for Men­tal Health with.

* CNPA staff present at the meeting explained CNPAs current wellbeing practices for
employees and work being done through Cairngorms 2030.
* It was requested by a panel member that an article is written for the Scottish
Association for Mental Health.

• Lastly, Kev­in atten­ded a ques­tion and answer ses­sion with Kirsty McNeill MP Par­lia­ment­ary Under Sec­ret­ary of State. Kev­in asked how Kirsty McNeill could use her role to sup­port the work of the EAP.

* Some suggestions on how to involve the minister in the work of the EAP included
offering a video conference, involving key ministers with the work of the EAP and

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 3 of 3

• show­ing the min­is­ter improved parts of the park or pro­jects that have benefited from advice from the EAP. • Some pan­el mem­bers expressed cau­tion and raised that, sim­il­arly to engage­ment, it is import­ant to con­sider what the pur­pose of the work with the min­is­ter would be pri­or to estab­lish­ing con­tact with the min­is­ter. • Han­nah explained that any work with the min­is­ter would need to sit with­in the wider stra­tegic plan of the organ­isa­tion. Han­nah will raise this at exec­ut­ive level. • Han­nah thanked Kev­in for his input and the pan­el for con­trib­ut­ing to the dis­cus­sion. Han­nah asked that the minutes be sent out pri­or to the next meet­ing so that any­one not present at the meet­ing can include their thoughts via correspondence.

1. AOBS • No AOBS End of meeting

Next meet­ing 29 April 2025