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Conference
The
Chair informed the group that the First Minister would be unable to
attend the Conference on 27/28 September due to prior diary commitments
and added that Mr Richard Lochhead (Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs
and Environment) was also unable to make this date. This difficulty in
securing Scottish Government representation at the conference along with
the staffing constraints currently being experienced by the Nádair Trust
lead to the decision to move the date of the conference.
The
Nádair Trust has advised that due to staffing constraints they may face
difficultly in trying to deliver the conference. There was discussion
on the contractual position with Nádair regarding the organisation of
the Conference as the Committee were of the opinion that the SIF had a
contract with Nádair for the organisation of the Conference. However
Nádair has indicated that they believe that there was an agreement
regarding the organisation of the Conference rather than a contractual
obligation.
Margaret suggested that if Nádair are experiencing staff problems and
are thus unable to organise the Conference perhaps they could consider
sub contracting this out; as long as they took appropriate steps to
check the funding contract to ensure that subcontract is possible.
It was
agreed in order to seek clarification on this matter the Chair and
Margaret would visit Nádair after the meeting. Jane Fowler also noted
that she would check the correspondence between Nádair and Camille
Dressler to see if this could clarify the matter
Later
in meeting Sandy Brunton suggested that if Nádair are unable to organise
the Conference that the Mull and Iona Community Trust could take over
the organisation of the conference as they have experience of organising
such events. He went on to note that the costings for the conference
compiled by Nádair may need to be assessed by the Mull and Iona
Community Trust to check there feasibly as these costings were
originally complied by Nádair.
With
reference to the estimated costings for the conference Dianna and Cllr
Alan Hill noted that there were no travel expenses allocated for
participants from the Island of Arran this omission will need to be
rectified.
After
lengthy discussion and consideration by the Management Committee it was
decided that the new dates for the conference would be 15th &16th Nov
2007. This is to allow for greater organisational time and to
ensure Ministerial participation at this important event. During the
meeting it was confirmed by telephone that Mr Richard Lochhead will be
able to address the Conference on 16 Nov as the keynote speaker. The
venue for the conference is the Craignure Hall on the Island of Mull
Jane indicated that she would book the hall.
It was
agreed that ideally there would be 3 or 4 key note speakers at the
Conference and the speakers would potentially be as follows:
o
Mr
Richard Lochhead (Confirmed)
o
Mr
Bengt Almkvist
o
Representative from the Irish Islands Federation
o
Representative from HIE
The
Chair spoke about the publicity for the conference and drew the
Committees attention to the press release which had been circulated
prior to the meeting. It was agreed that Jane would work on the press
release before it is issued to the press for the revised conference
dates.
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The
Chair and Margaret to let the Committee know the outcome of their
discussions with Nádair.
Jane to
check correspondence.
Conference organisers
Jane to
book hall for conference
Jane to
check availability of Bengt and to contact Irish Islands Federation.
Margaret to find out if there is anyone available from HIE to address
the conference
Jane to
work on press release |
