Guide to Inform­a­tion (Pub­lic­a­tion Scheme)

Paul Dav­is­on, Inform­a­tion Man­ager, Decem­ber 2025

Intro­duc­tion

This Guide to Inform­a­tion explains what we pub­lish, how you can access it, and any charges that may apply. It ful­fils our duty under the Free­dom of Inform­a­tion (Scot­land) Act 2002 (FOISA) to ​“adopt and main­tain” a pub­lic­a­tion scheme and to make inform­a­tion avail­able pro­act­ively. We adopt the Scot­tish Inform­a­tion Commissioner’s Mod­el Pub­lic­a­tion Scheme (MPS) in full and without amend­ment (approved 1 Novem­ber 2018; doc­u­ments updated March 2021).

Under the MPS we com­mit to:

• Pub­lish inform­a­tion we hold that falls into the nine classes of inform­a­tion lis­ted below.
• Meet the MPS Prin­ciples (avail­ab­il­ity & formats, exempt inform­a­tion, copy­right & re-use, charges, con­tact details, duration).
• Keep this guide up to date and easy to use.

How to use this guide

Most inform­a­tion is avail­able online at cairngorms​.co​.uk. Start at the home page and use nav­ig­a­tion to find inform­a­tion, or use site search (click on the Find icon). Where we link to sec­tions like The Park Author­ity, What we do, Plan­ning, News, Board meet­ings, etc., these are indic­at­ive paths based on the cur­rent site struc­ture. If you can­not access online con­tent, we offer altern­at­ive formats and off­line access (see Avail­ab­il­ity & formats below).

For inform­a­tion not pub­lished in this Guide, you can make an FOI/EIR request.

The MPS principles

• Avail­ab­il­ity & formats – Inform­a­tion is pub­lished on our web­site wherever pos­sible. Altern­at­ive arrange­ments (inspec­tion, paper copy, large print, etc.) are avail­able on request: see con­tact details on this page.
• Exempt inform­a­tion – If a doc­u­ment con­tains inform­a­tion exempt under FOISA/​EIRs, we will redact before pub­lic­a­tion and explain why.
• Copy­right & re-use – Where we hold copy­right, you may reuse our pub­lished inform­a­tion provided it is accur­ate, not mis­lead­ing, and the source is acknow­ledged. Where third-party copy­right exists, we will indic­ate this. (We may also enable re-use via the Open Gov­ern­ment Licence).
• Charges – Most pub­lished inform­a­tion is free online. Reas­on­able costs may be applied for paper cop­ies or media (print­ing, post­age). We will noti­fy you in advance.
• Con­tact details – See this spe­cif­ic page for help access­ing inform­a­tion or mak­ing requests.
• Dur­a­tion and review – We ensure inform­a­tion remains avail­able for as long as rel­ev­ant and replace super­seded ver­sions where appropriate.

Class 1: About us

• Who we are / What we do (mis­sion, stat­utory role, Nation­al Park over­view): Cairngorms Nation­al Park | The Park Authority
• Con­tact details & office address: 14 The Square, Grant­own-on-Spey PH26 3HG; see also Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Con­tact us
• Gov­ernance & Board (Board mem­bers, com­mit­tees, minutes): Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Staff and board for Board and seni­or staff and Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Board committees
• The Park Author­ity / Board & meet­ings. Upcom­ing meet­ings: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Meet­ings. Past meet­ings (up to 6 years old): Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Search. For older meet­ings, please con­tact us.
• Part­ner­ships & extern­al rela­tions: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Part­ner­ship Plan
• Advis­ory for­ums and groups: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Advis­ory for­ums and groups
• FOI page / Pub­lic­a­tion scheme state­ment: Free­dom of Information

Class 2: How we deliv­er our func­tions and services

Inform­a­tion about our work, strategies and policies, and inform­a­tion for ser­vice users. The Park Authority’s oper­a­tion­al plan ²⁰²⁵⁄₂₆ was approved by the Board in March 2025: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Board meet­ing 28 March 2025

What we do

• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Com­munit­ies and business
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Cul­ture and heritage
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Edu­ca­tion, skills and training
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Farm­ing and land management
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Health, well­being and equalities
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Nature and cli­mate change
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Plan­ning and devel­op­ment (see also plan­ning ser­vice below)
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Trans­port and act­ive travel
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Vis­it­ors and out­door access

Stat­utory Plan­ning Service

• CNPA serves as one of the appoin­ted plan­ning author­it­ies, work­ing along­side Aber­deen­shire, Angus, High­land, Moray and Perth & Kinross Coun­cils. It ​“calls in” devel­op­ment pro­pos­als rel­ev­ant to wider Nation­al Park aims. Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Plan­ning advice and support
• The team uses a Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (adop­ted 2021) and a Plan­ning Pro­tocol with loc­al author­it­ies to shape and assess devel­op­ments. Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Plan­ning guidance
• Developed Plan­ning Ser­vice Charter and Per­form­ance Frame­work set out ser­vice stand­ards, times­cales, enforce­ment, and con­tinu­ous improve­ment. Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Plan­ning guidance

Class 3: How we take decisions and what we have decided

Inform­a­tion about decisions, decision-mak­ing pro­cesses, and stake­hold­er involvement.

• The Park Author­ity / Board & meet­ings. Upcom­ing meet­ings: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Meet­ings. Past meet­ings (up to 6 years old): Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Search. For older meet­ings, please con­tact us.
• Advis­ory for­ums and groups: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Advis­ory for­ums and groups
• Live and closed con­sulta­tions: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Tell us what you think
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park Frame­work doc­u­ment – a frame­work out­lining the work­ing rela­tion­ship between the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity (CNPA) and the Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment (SG). Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Cairngorms Nation­al Park Frame­work document

Class 4: What we spend and how we spend it

The Park Authority’s annu­al report and accounts details the Park Authority’s per­form­ance, stra­tegic aims, and fin­an­cial res­ults, high­light­ing achieve­ments across all deliv­ery areas as well as key issues and risks. This link will show pub­lished ver­sions with the most recent first. Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Search

The Park Authority’s oper­a­tion­al plan ²⁰²⁵⁄₂₆ was approved by the Board in March 2025: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Board meet­ing 28 March 2025

Class 5: How we man­age our human, phys­ic­al and inform­a­tion resources

Inform­a­tion about our intern­al resource man­age­ment (e.g., HR policies, estates inform­a­tion, inform­a­tion gov­ernance, records man­age­ment, data pro­tec­tion policies).

Policies and oth­er doc­u­ments are held intern­ally but will be reviewed / approved by rel­ev­ant com­mit­tees as detailed here Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Board com­mit­tees. Inform­a­tion on all resource man­age­ment policies and pro­ced­ures is avail­able on request to FOI/EIR request. Careers and recruit­ment inform­a­tion is avail­able here Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Careers and recruit­ment.

Class 6: How we pro­cure goods and ser­vices from extern­al providers

We fol­low Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment guid­ance on pro­cure­ment includ­ing spe­cif­ics routes with­in the pro­cure­ment jour­ney www.procurementjourney.scot and thresholds of whole-con­tract value. Detailed inform­a­tion is avail­able from the Authority’s pro­cure­ment officer.

Con­tract oppor­tun­it­ies are avail­able to view at Pub­lic Con­tracts Scot­land: Buy­er View — Pub­lic Con­tracts Scotland

Class 7: How we are performing

The Park Authority’s annu­al report and accounts details the Park Authority’s per­form­ance, stra­tegic aims, and fin­an­cial res­ults, high­light­ing achieve­ments across all deliv­ery areas as well as key issues and risks. This link will show pub­lished ver­sions with the most recent first. Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Search

The Park Authority’s per­form­ance com­mit­tee scru­tin­ises per­form­ance across vari­ous themes at its reg­u­lar meet­ing: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Search

An annu­al update on the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan is provided to the Board. This was last done in Septem­ber 2025: Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Form­al board meet­ing — 26 Septem­ber 2025

Class 8: Our com­mer­cial publications

Not applic­able – the Park Author­ity does not main­tain any com­mer­cial pub­lic­a­tions or oth­er inform­a­tion for sale.

Class 9: Our open data

Some open data is pub­lished or made avail­able through chan­nels such as the Scot­tish spa­tial data hub and oth­ers. For example:

• Paths And Core Paths — Cairngorms Nation­al Park — Data­set — Spa­tial Hub Scotland
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Sum­mary of data from 2011 — 2023
• Cairngorms Nation­al Park Des­ig­nated Bound­ary — Data­set — data​.gov​.uk
• NatureScot Spa­tial Data Hub

Gen­er­al map­ping inform­a­tion is also avail­able at Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Map

Access­ib­il­ity

We strive to meet access­ib­il­ity stand­ards. Full details are here Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Access­ib­il­ity state­ment. The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is com­mit­ted to mak­ing its web­site access­ible, in accord­ance with the Pub­lic Sec­tor Bod­ies (Web­sites and Mobile Applic­a­tions) (No. 2) Access­ib­il­ity Reg­u­la­tions 2018.

Envir­on­ment­al Inform­a­tion (EIRs)

Envir­on­ment­al inform­a­tion is avail­able under the EIRs. Where envir­on­ment­al inform­a­tion falls with­in the classes above, it will be pub­lished through this Guide. Requests for envir­on­ment­al inform­a­tion can also be made under the EIRs.

Feed­back and Complaints

If you have com­ments on this Guide or wish to com­plain about with­held inform­a­tion or access dif­fi­culties, please con­tact us in the first instance via Cairngorms Nation­al Park | Free­dom of inform­a­tion. If you are dis­sat­is­fied with our response, you may request a review. You also have the right to appeal to the Scot­tish Inform­a­tion Com­mis­sion­er. See also our com­plaints hand­ling pro­ced­ure Model-Complaints-Handling-Policy-Part5-A-Guide-for-Customers.pdf.