Agenda item

Howard Pearce, Chair of the Pension Board, presented the report. He began by reminding Members of the role of the Board, as set out on page 2 of the report (agenda page 35) and that the Board had existed for 3 years. Members noted the work and forward plan of the Board (pages 8-11/agenda pages 41-44) and reminded themselves of the advice given and recommendations made to the Fund (Appendix 1).

A Member noted the concern expressed by the Board at the very low attendance at the Fund’s employers’ conference and asked what steps could be taken to encourage them to do so. Mr Pearce suggested that the Fund could arrange smaller training sessions and employers to allow relevant staff a day off work to attend. The Fund should give early notice of forthcoming events and encourage employers to attend the annual conference.  The Head of Business, Finance and Pensions said that the holding of an annual conference is good practice. The Fund did hold quite a number of other engagement sessions for employers and tried to reach as many employers as possible, though this could be very difficult with the small employers. Replying to the Member, he said that the Fund tended not to hold events in the evening; the last time this had been done was in 2014 to explain the changes to the LGPS being implemented at the time.

A Member asked whether the Board had received the list of repeat late payers that it had requested. Mr Pearce replied that the Board was receiving regular reports on late payers. The Board took assurance from the last report in which there were no repeat late payers and from which it appeared that late payments occurred by accident or oversight.

A Member said the Board’s report was useful and helpful. However, she did have a concern that there might be duplication between the work of the Board and that of the Committee and wondered how this could be minimised. Mr Pearce agreed that there was a risk of duplication, since the respective Terms of Reference for the Board and the Committee had similarities. The agendas for the Board and the Committee did need to be co-ordinated, but the Board’s focus was on the governance of the Fund and its overall decision making process, not low-level detail.

Replying to another Member Mr Pearce said that the report would be presented to the Council and sent to Fund members. It would provide to the Council as administering authority an independent assessment of the governance and administrative efficiency of the Fund.

RESOLVED to note the Pension Board Annual Report 2017/18.

Mr Pearce withdrew from the meeting.

The Head of Business, Finance and Pensions advised the Committee that at its last meeting the Pension Board had requested that the Chair (with the possibility of substitution by another Board member) be accorded observer status at meetings of the Committee, which would include the right to attend exempt sessions. This would require an amendment to the Committee’s Terms of Reference, which could be implemented in time for the December meeting. He invited Members to express their views about this.

Members discussed the request in depth including:

·  whether attending exempt sessions would cause conflicts of interest and confusion of roles;

·  whether in order to scrutinise the governance process, the Board needed to attend exempt sessions and listen to the Committee’s deliberations;

·  that the minutes should provide adequate sight of the process and decisions.

The overriding concern was that this could lead to a confusion in roles and initial conclusion was that the functions of the Committee and Board were best kept separate to avoid potential conflicts of interest. The Head of Business, Finance and Pensions said that he would discuss the matter further with the Chair of the Pension Board and report back.