Agenda item
The Pensions Regulator Governance and administration Survey
Minutes:
The Chair introduced the item. He advised that he wished the Board to consider the survey and to use the document as a tool to examine/assess the arrangements for Fund governance:
• Policies to help board members acquire and retain knowledge
• Conflicts policy and procedure for Pension Board Members
• Procedures relating to publishing information
• Documenting procedures for assessing and managing risk
• Recordkeeping policies and procedures for all members
• Processes monitoring payments of contributions
• Procedures to identify and assess breaches
The results of the governance and administration survey revealed that, across pension schemes, governance was delivered in general but performance needed to be improved in the areas of:
• Procedures to identify and assess breaches
• Recordkeeping policies and procedures for members
• Documented procedures for assessing and managing risk
• Conflicts policy and procedures for pensions board members delete that
The Board discussed the following governance elements/themes:
Policies to help board members acquire and retain knowledge:
The Chair proposed that the survey provided a good basis on which to assess/monitor the Council's own pension scheme in this respect. He noted that arrangements at Tower Hamlets were good but up-take was not uniform.
The Board noted the measures in place to ensure/encourage members to use the web training modules on the Pensions Regulator website and that the modules were not been completed by all Pension Committee Members. The Chair stressed the importance of successful training and development since this was an area that was recorded via the survey. The Board was informed that, to ensure that member training took place, training sessions had been delivered as part of pension committee meetings. The Chair agreed to send some further training information to Ms Tobun.
Conflicts policy and procedure for Pension Board Members:
The Board was informed that these were in line with the Members’ Code of Conduct and formed part of the Board’s terms of reference.
Documenting procedures for assessing and managing risk:
The Board was informed that managing risk policies were in place to ensure that risk was assessed and managed. There were full policies and sourcing procedures for managing risk.
Recordkeeping policies and procedures for members:
The Board noted that the Council had a recordkeeping policy and document retention policy. A copy of these policies would be provided to Ms Tobun by the Clerk.
Procedures to identify and assess breaches
The Board was informed that a policy addressing beach breaches was being developed in conjunction with the conflict-of-interest policy and the risk management policy. The Chair requested that an update on these be brought to the next meeting.
Board Member Mr Thompson noted:
• That at the previous meeting, it had been requested that core functions A - K as outlined at paragraph 55 of the Pension Board Terms of Reference paragraph 55 should be reported.
• The risks that had been identified concerning issues with the operation of Northgate software.
RESOLVED
1. That the report be noted
2. The recommendations above be pursued outside of the meeting
Supporting documents: