1. Welcome and Apologies

DK welcomed everyone to the meeting. DK introduced the special advisors attending who had agreed to support the S6D Board in relation to WOC 2024.

2. Register of Interests

No change for Directors. The special advisors (other than BH who had completed the form) were asked to complete the register of interests and return to DK.

3. Approval of Minutes of Meeting of Directors (5th September 2023)

Minutes were approved subject to amendment in respect of Euromeeting and recruitment of volunteers for WOC rather than Euromeeting which DK undertook to amend. It was agreed that consistency was required across S6D documents and S6D would be used as shorthand when referring to Scottish Orienteering 6 Day Event Company Ltd and LOT when referring to the Local Organising Team.

4. Matters arising from previous minutes

Insurance

NH confirming that there have been some changes in personnel at the insurance provider but all information had been provided to them in respect of event liability insurance and we are awaiting a response. A quote was not being sought for event equipment at this time as the requirements had yet to be determined and would depend on suppliers requirement (Scottish Athletics are requiring insurance but others may not).

The Steering Group had previously indicated that cancellation insurance was not required but the partners would be asked to confirm they would not seek repayment of funds in the event of cancellation.

Insurance is processed through SOA and NH is progressing this task in respect of WOC requirements as these evolve. Once a quote is obtained it will be reviewed and approved by AM/ S6D Board and Steering Group will be briefed.

Action: NH to progress insurance discussions and once quote obtained to provide for review by AM/ S6D Board before SG briefing.

Financial Position

KR reporting that he has updated the financial position spreadsheet with regard to further details of Moray 2023 and analysed the current cash/ spend/ reserves. This has been updated with regard to the September 2024 and December 2024 positions. The link to the spreadsheet was circulated prior to the meeting.

The current balance in the accounts is £278,000 with funds ringfenced for WOC and the planned prospective expenditure with regard to the September and December 2024 forecasts has included future payments to SOA, other expenditure, capital expenditure and residual expenditure including the £10,000 proposed payment to clubs after Moray 2023.

He believes that following on from this work the commitment to provide funding of £50,000 towards WOC is supportable with figures suggesting that the S6D will remain within the reserves policy in September 2024 and be just below the reserves policy when taking into account advance payments for Deeside 2025 and SOA payments.

In the event of the double lock commitment being called upon reserves would lower to a level which would require collaboration with SOA and spending on Deeside would have to be carefully monitored.

Assistant Event Director

NH confirming that interviews were taking place tomorrow for an Events and Operations Manager. This appointment would assume the role of assistant events director. Interviews were being carried out by DK, NH and Richard Oxlade.

5. WOC 2024

Funding

DK indicated that written confirmation of additional funding was still awaited from Event Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council. Event Scotland were awaiting Robbie Clyde’s replacement and City of Edinburgh Council were taking the proposal to a committee meeting on 5th October. Any decision made today is provisional on their funding being approved.

The Budget will be updated as at 30th September and Bob Dredge (BD) and AM are making sure that they speak to key line mangers with one of the key things to understand being the VAT position of suppliers.

BD had provided a draft paper with the position as at 21/9 after communication with AM. KR reported that the draft paper indicated some use of the contingency and the terms of reference were being reassessed to be clear about the Local Organising Team (LOT) responsibility in respect of finance.

The Directors approved the proposed contribution of £50,000 from reserves and the double lock agreement as suggested by BOF, subject to the confirmation of additional financial support being received from Event Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council.

Risk Register

The updated risk register had been circulated by RW.

• RW indicated that following discussions with JC about the volunteer position remained a key risk and must be kept as a focus until all positions filled.
• The main concern was the roadmap/milestones prepared by Richard Oxlade and now with AM would provide dates which would clarify the mitigations which require to be added to the register. AM undertook to review the schedule and to allow the dates/ mitigations to be added to the register. All directors and special advisors were asked to review the risk register and indicate which area they were best able to oversee.
• Mitigations require review once dates added
• VAT Risk – KR indicated that this should be reviewed as position may change. KR to monitor.
• Risk Assessment – TOD has prepared a draft risk assessment for the sprint final in respect of delivery on the ground. There will be other risk assessments for EPOG/ Arenas. AM to review.

It was noted that S6D also has a risk register which is looked at and must be updated to reflect Deeside 2025.

Actions:
AM to review event plan and provide dates for risk register.
RW to review mitigations once dates provided.
KR to monitor VAT position.
AM to review draft risk assessments provided by TOD.
All to review risk register and indicate which area they were best able to oversee

Roadmap/Milestones

CE reported that he has looked at the document prepared by Richard Oxlade and has the shavings of a useful programme but requires more information/ refined. AM confirmed it was useful to understand orienteering but would need tweaking for day to day use. AM’s intention is to break it down into functional areas for his purposes and adapt.

Permissions

NH reported that Alasdair Pedley (AP), she and AM had been working through permissions in respect of Arena locations. AP had prepared a comprehensive list of requirements and was working through the list. All arena locations were looking positive and this was something that required to be confirmed as soon as possible.

Governance

AM reported that the level of freedom for finance that LOT have would be agreed shortly. AM has some comments on the Terms of Reference for the LOT. These will be reviewed after Friday when the final decision is made.

The governance position had been accepted that LOT would report to AM who would report to S6D and S6D would report to the Steering Group. This had been agreed with the Steering Group.

Action: Terms of reference for LOT to be reviewed once final decision made.

Volunteer Position

JC has been working to fill the positions. AM will need help form the S6D Board and Orienteering Community to provide names to help fill the roles.

AM will prepare a full list of who is required and details of what involved. This will then be forwarded to NH to circulate around clubs.

In respect of professional help required there have been four key roles identified

• Media/ commas – they may have a volunteer and this is being explored.
• Sponsorship – AM speaking to someone in the industry to work on a % basis
• Health/Safety – looking for a safety officer to work with the council/EPOG to make sure all submitted re Risk Assessments/method statements and act as policeman on the ground for contractors.
• Someone to take on Social Channels for next 10 months – discussion that worth approaching BOF for their help.

The volunteer offering requires clarification and AM/JC are looking at this.

Action:
AM to prepare list of volunteer requirements

Viability Report

AM’s report had been circulated to those present. All agreed it was a positive report and highlighted three things required

• Governance – to make sure moving forward/ interdependencies identified and all working in unison.
• Plan to work to
• Budget to deliver the project

Next deadline will be November when all arenas must be confirmed to allow Iain Smalls to prepare requirements and move forward with suppliers. All Functional areas will require to provide detail of requirements by then. This date is key in terms of ensuring have time to negotiate on key items such as generators, marquees, toilets, seating etc.

AM is visiting European Champs next week. Key action for AM is getting EPOG restarted.

Business Plan

Is work in progress at the moment. It has been forwarded to SOA. KR to update budget.

GO/NO GO

Special Advisor comments:

• Any decision must be contingent on Event Scotland/ City of Edinburgh Council commitment and confirmation that they will not withhold funding if all KPIs are not met.
• Must close off insurance discussions.
• Volunteering numbers must be addressed.

A vote by Directors on the Go/No Go decision was taken and a unanimous decision to go ahead with the event was given by those present (RW having left the meeting before this point would be contacted by DK).

Bulletin 2

It was agreed that Bulletin 2 should be held until after City of Edinburgh Council meeting.

6. Deeside 2025

Still looking for a coordinator. Meet re 6 Days in mid-October.

7. Date of Next Meeting

Agreed that monthly meetings would be required going forward and separate WOC meetings would be required.

WOC Meetings:

• Wednesday 25th October 7.30pm
• Wednesday 29th November 7.30pm