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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
FINANCE COMMITTEE 
MINUTES 11/02/05 

 
MINUTES of MEETING of the FINANCE COMMITTEE of 

THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
Held at Tomintoul 
on 11 February 2005 


Present: 

Eleanor Mackintosh 	David Selfridge 
Gregor Rimell 		Joyce Simpson 


In Attendance: 

David Cameron, Head of Corporate Services 
Denby Pettitt, Finance Manager 


Apologies: 

Andrew Thin 


Minutes of Meeting of 19 November 2004 

1. The minutes of the previous meeting, of 19 November 2004, were approved without 
amendment. 


Matters Arising 

2. There were no matters arising from the minutes not covered elsewhere on the agenda. 


2004/05 Finance Monitoring for 9 Months to 31 December 2004 and Forecast Outturn 
for Full Financial Year (Paper 1) 

3. In introducing the paper, Denby Pettitt outlined that “core” expenditure remained 
broadly in line with budget expectations, with expenditure at 72% of the revised full 
year budget at the end of December 2004. Expenditure on items included in the 
operational plan for the year remained well behind forecasts, with actual expenditure 
at the three-quarter stage of the year of some 44% of the total planned for the year. 

4. Overall, forecast outturn expenditure for the year was some £150,000 below the total 
resource level allocated to the Authority. All elements within the operational plan for 
2004/05 had been reviewed in order to identify the level of risk associated with the 
potential commitment of resources allocated to them. And this exercise had informed 
the projected outturn given. Action was still being taken to minimise the final level of 
underspend against 2004/05 resources, while a bid to the Scottish Executive to carry 
forward unused resources into 2005/06 was to be discussed at a meeting on 18 
February. 

5. David Cameron confirmed that the meeting with the Scottish Executive had originally 
been planned for 9 February but had been postponed to the later date. He indicated 
that the meeting itself would be unlikely to yield much information on the potential 
success of a bid for End-Year Flexibility, and was more to explore the background to 
the Authority’s situation and explore the means by which the Authority should go 
about making such a bid. 

6. In discussing the situation, members agreed with the Chair that the size of the 
underspend was disappointing, while recognising that in approving a budget for the 
Authority the organisation could not exceed the resource level. The only leeway 
within the Authority’s financial environment was therefore to be on or under budget. 

7. In considering the situation, members noted that it was important to seek to minimise 
the size of the underspend at the year end. However, it was equally important to have 
regard to the effective and efficient use of public funds and this had to continue to be 
a critical point of reference in taking any expenditure decisions. 

8. In looking forward and learning from the experience in 2004/05, members considered 
a suggestion that some level of over-programming, i.e. initially allocating more in 
budgets than the resource level allocated to the authority, in recognition of the 
significant potential for slippage in the type of activities planned by the Authority. 
Members acknowledged that this was a fairly common financial management tool for 
activities where slippage in expenditure was a common factor introduced by the 
nature of the business. 

9. Members also acknowledged that there were some risks associated with overprogramming. 
As operations within the Authority became better established and 
staffing levels came closer to agreed establishment, slippage may reduce and budgets 
may consequently be at some pressure of over-spending. Further, it may be difficult 
to reduce expenditure on projects, as the pattern of expenditure for a year became 
clearer, once these had been built into operational plans. 

10. The Committee agreed to: 

a. note the outturn for the nine months to December 2004, with expenditure 
of £2.238m compared with a budget for the period of £2.676m. 

b. note the full year outturn forecast, which projected final expenditure of 
£3.4m against a total resource allocation of £3.55m. 

c. request SEERAD to consider using the End of Year Flexibility procedures 
to allow activities to be funded in 2005-06 from 2004-05 underspend. 


Ratification of Expenditure Proposals (Paper 2) 

11. Denby Pettitt briefly set out the background to this paper, which set out the 
expenditure justification proposals put forward since the last meeting and which 
required the Committee’s approval to the allocation of monetary resources in excess 
of £10,000. In addition to two such proposals circulated to members since the 
November meeting, the paper also sought ratification of expenditure included in the 
Communication Strategy approved by the Board and consideration of expenditure 
which was within officers’ delegated authority on fleeces and name badges to enhance 
the corporate image. 

12. Denby also highlighted to members that, in light of previous discussions on the 
current year’s expenditure position, there was an expectation of an increasing number 
of proposals requiring approval between meetings prior to the year end. Members’ 
views were sought on whether the present email arrangements were working 
adequately. 

13. On this point, members noted that requests had been clear and unanimously agreed to 
date and questioned what action should be taken if the request was not clear cut or if 
members’ opinions differed significantly. Denby suggested that the fortnightly 
Planning Committees afforded an opportunity for members to meet informally to 
discuss any proposals if required. 

14. The Committee ratified the previous expenditure decisions on the digital video 
project and natural resources consultancy. 

15. The Committee ratified the expenditure on media training and opinion polling 
that had been tendered and awarded in line with the 2004/05 Operational Plan 
and Communications Strategy. 

16. The Committee approved the expenditure on corporate fleeces and identity 
badges to improve the visibility of the Park Authority. 

17. The Committee agreed to continue the present system of approving expenditure 
between meetings by e-mail and that informal discussion at Planning Committee 
meetings provided an appropriate opportunity to discuss any more contentious 
requests. 


2005/06 Proposed Budget 

18. David Cameron informed the Committee that a budget for the coming year, and 
forward forecasts for the following two years, had been drawn up to underpin the 
work on the Corporate Plan for 2005/06 to 2007/08. The Corporate Plan itself was to 
be considered by the Board at its meeting in the afternoon following the Committee. 
As finalisation of budget figures depended to some degree on Board decisions to be 
taken on the corporate plan, it was not felt to be appropriate to submit budget figures 
to this meeting of the Committee. 

19. In response to questions on the budget setting process, David Cameron confirmed that 
initial budget proposals had been received from project managers for expenditure on 
operational plan items in each of the next three years, together with expenditure 
forecasts developed centrally for “Core” items such as staff salaries and office 
running costs. This process had led to the forecasts of expenditure set out in the 
Corporate Plan discussion paper considered by the Board in January. Following the 
guidance received from the Board on priorities and range of goals to be addressed, 
“bottom-up” expenditure proposals had been refined to fit within the Authority’s 
overall resource allocation. After finalisation of the Corporate Plan by the Board, an 
Operational Plan for 2005/06 would be developed and reported to the Board for 
information in March or April. A budget for 2005/06 would then be submitted to the 
Finance Committee at its next meeting in May. 


AOCB 

20. Members discussed the Committee’s ability to cover all business within an hour with 
the usual start time of 9:30 a.m. prior to the Planning Committee commencing at 
10:30 a.m... As members were likely to be staying in the area overnight prior to the 
next Committee meeting, it was agreed that the Committee’s meeting should 
commence at 9:00 a.m. to allow discussion of the 2004/05 outturn position and 
2005/06 budget in full. 


Date of Next Meeting 

21. The next scheduled meeting of the Committee was at 9:00 a.m. on 6 May 2005, in 
Kirriemuir.