Agenda item

This report is to remind members of the roles and responsibilities of members, advisors and officers of the Avon Pension Fund and the governance framework for the Fund as a whole.

The Governance & Risk Advisor introduced the report to the Committee and highlighted the following areas.

·  No changes have been made to the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Committee & Investment Panel apart from minor job title changes. The minor changes were approved by Council on 22nd May.

·  The Committee’s role is strategic in nature, setting the policy framework and monitoring compliance within that framework. Due to the wide scope of the Committee’s remit, investment issues are delegated to the Investment Panel, (a sub-committee of the Committee) which explores the issues in greater detail before making decisions and/or recommendations to the Committee. The implementation of strategic decisions is delegated to Officers.

She stated that changes to the framework were expected following any decision on the pooling arrangements for LGPS funds.

Jackie Peel referred to page 168 of the agenda pack and said that the second paragraph under ‘Committee Scope’ should read “The Avon Pension Fund is a member of the Brunel Pension Partnership (Brunel). Brunel Pension Partnership Ltd (BPP Ltd) is responsible for implementing the Fund’s Investment Strategy.

Councillor Fi Hance commented that a summary of the amendments would be appreciated.

The Governance & Risk Advisor replied that any significant changes would have been highlighted in the report and that at this time only minor job title changes had taken place.

The Chair stated that any member of the Committee was welcome to attend future meetings of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) and said that some conferences were also upcoming.

The Committee RESOLVED to:

i)  Approves the Terms of Reference of the Committee & Investment Panel

ii)  Approves the Governance Compliance Statement, including draft Representation Policy.

iii)  Approves the Scheme of Delegation

iv)  Approves the changes to the Conflicts of Interest Policy

v)    Notes the Decision Making Matrix.

vi)   Notes the roles and responsibilities of the members, advisors and officers

vii)     Agrees independent member representation of the Brunel Working Group. 

viii)  Agrees substitute of Brunel Oversight Board. Chair of Investment Panel

 ix) Agrees the member(s) to represent the fund on the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum.  Chair of the Committee

x)  Agrees to delegate the drafting of the Annual Report to Council to Officers and the Chair (subject to informal consultation with Committee members prior to the Chair approving the report).