Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCujrRO-y6RzkN6zPQ-xNAtA

Contact: Jeverly Findlay 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Joanne Walton, Governance & Regulations Manager.

 

2.

Appointment of Chair and Vice-chair for the year 2021/22

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager explained that there were not enough members appointed to the Board for the meeting to be quorate. This had arisen due to the disaggregation of Northamptonshire County Council and the fact that some members of the Board had retired. Officers at North Northamptonshire Council had been contacted in order to propose a Councillor from that authority to sit on the Board but so far a nomination had not been provided. As the meeting was not quorate, the business on the agenda could be considered but no decisions made and these would be deferred to the next meeting. The appointment of the Chair and Vice Chair would therefore be deferred.

 

Michelle Oakensen advised that the deadline for the recruitment for the two other seats on the Board was the following day and the responses so far had been encouraging. It was expected that at the next meeting due to be held in November there would be full membership.

 

RESOLVED:  That the appointment of the Chair and Vice-chair be deferred to                       the meeting due to be held on 4th November 2021.

 

3.

Declarations of Interest

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

 

4.

Minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11th March 2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the Local Pension Board approved the minutes of the                               meeting held on 11th March 2021.

 

5.

Action Log pdf icon PDF 421 KB

Minutes:

The Governance Officer, Michelle Oakensen advised that there were no actions to note in the action log (copies of which had been previously circulated). 

 

RESOLVED:  That the Local Pension Board noted the action log.

 

6.

Pension Fund Annual Business Plan and Medium-Term Strategy pdf icon PDF 394 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Pensions, Mark Whitby, introduced the report (copies of which had been previously circulated).

 

The Board were informed that the Northamptonshire Pension Fund Annual Business Plan and Medium-Term Strategy had been approved by  the Pension Committee in March 2021. The plan outlined the structure of the operation which was administered for Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire under a shared service arrangement and employed 70-80 staff. The report set out the valuation of the fund and the investment total which was around £3 billion. The plan outlined the key challenges and influences for the fund over the next 3 years. The management expenses were around £3-4 million, a significant amount of this was spent on consultancy fees and legal advice. By the end of the year the predictions for the contributions cash flows are generally quite accurate, however the investment income was difficult to predict due to the changes in the capital value of assets. The Actuary calculated the expected average investment growth figure.

 

Further to an enquiry from Kevin Standish-Day, Mark Whitby advised that the accounts were in the process of being closed down so a forecast amount had to be included until they had been audited. For future years an estimate was provided.

 

Councillor Ken Pritchard queried the variance in the forecast and the actual figures for 2021. Mark Whitby explained that this was due to profit and loss and as the growth of the fund had been 40-50% higher than expected. The forecast for the following year reverted to the long term forecast, before the return of income from the investments. The final figures would be submitted to the Pension Committee in July. Page 31 of the Plan provided at analysis of each activity. Preparation work was being undertaken following the expected changes to legislation as a result of the age discrimination remedy. Assets were pooled in order to gain economies of scale in the ACCESS pool. A Joint Committee with representation from each Fund had been formed to oversee the governance of the pool.

 

With regard to the changes brought about from the local government reorganisation, Mark Whitby advised that the form of the committees had been retained but the membership adjusted for the 2 authorities. A great deal of work had been undertaken in relation to the governance arrangements and there would be a considerable amount of work involved in moving all the data relating to employees from the sovereign councils to their new employers.

 

Kevin Standish-Day enquired about the review of the responsible investment policy; Mark Whitby advised that the draft had been submitted to the last Pension Committee and it had been sent out for consultation. Around 30,000 emails being sent and approximately 150 responses received, which was remarkably high for such a consultation. The majority of respondents had agreed rather than disagreed to the principles within the review, the policy would be submitted to the Pension Committee for approval in due course.

 

Mark Whitby reported that he was the Chair of a task  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Northamptonshire Pension Fund - Administration Performance Report pdf icon PDF 415 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which provided an overview of the administrative activities (copies of which had been previously circulated). Michelle Oakensen drew the Board’s attention to the table set out in section 5 of the report relating to material and non-material breaches of law. There was one on-going nonmaterial breach regarding the payment of refunds outside of a 5 year period, a change in regulations was likely to be made to resolve this issue. The Board were advised that they would be contacted outside of the meeting if there was a significant material breach which needed reporting to the Pensions Regulator.

 

Referring next to the Key Performance Indicators, it was noted that there were 3 reds and 7 ambers in the RAG status. The Local Pension Board members role is to keep an eye on the performance. One hundred percent of the contributions from employers of the scheme had been received in March and April; employers must pay on time and persistent non-payers could be reported to the regulator as a statutory breach. Terminating an employer’s participation in the scheme would be a last resort and a number of steps would have to be undertaken prior. Scheduled bodies could be sanctioned but could not be removed from the Fund. Organisations in the public sector and charities could  join the scheme under an appropriate Admission Agreement. Cory Blose advised that the majority of payments were received electronically and automatically and employers rarely had to be chased for payments.

 

Cory Blose confirmed that the Compass Contract Services Limited contract with the David Ross Education Trust had ceased to exist but not the trust itself.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Local Pension Board noted the Northamptonshire                               Pension Fund- Administration Performance Report.

 

8.

Northamptonshire Pension Fund Risk Register pdf icon PDF 408 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Northamptonshire Pension Fund Risk Register (previously circulated) and Michelle Oakensen, the Governance Officer, advised that this was submitted for consideration by the Local Pension Board at every meeting. Referring to section 5 of the report, the mitigation for risk 3 had been strengthened and the chair of the task and finish group was considering the ESG requirements. A new risk 7 had been identified following the work on cyber security, resilience and protections. This had previously been included with risk 16 but due to the increased focus on cyber security it was now identified as a separate risk. Risk 9 referred to the increased focus required on CIPFA skills and knowledge for Members and the training that they were required to attend. Training had taken place on 21st June and additional training dates had been circulated to all committee and board members. Risks 13 and 14 had been amended to include extra mitigation. Section 5.2 identified short to medium term risks which did not need to be added to the register but were issues to consider.  

 

Councillor Ken Pritchard, queried when the risk register would be revised again. Michelle Oakensen advised that a full review was due to be undertaken in the near future.

 

Mark Whitby added that a temporary review of had been undertaken of the Business Continuity Plan before the pandemic and consideration would be given as to how it would fit into the new West Northants Council structure. The risk strategy was unlikely to change as the concept remained the same but was due for review in 2022.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Local Pension Board reviewed the current risks facing                       the Fund.

 

9.

Governance and Compliance Report pdf icon PDF 414 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Michelle Oakensen, the Governance Officer introduced the report (copies of which had been previously circulated) and highlighted that the Good Governance Review action plan was currently being considered by the Local Government minister. There had been no further developments regarding the code of practice with the pensions regulator. It was due to come into force in November and the feedback from the consultation was still awaited. The service would have six months to ensure compliance with the code and would only need to make a small changes to their practices.

 

RESOLVED: That the Local Pension Board noted the contents of the report.

 

10.

2021/2022 Northamptonshire Pension Fund Communications Plan pdf icon PDF 395 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cory Blose, Employer Services and Systems Team Manager, introduced the report (copies of which had been previously circulated) and advised that the Communications Plan had been approved by the Pension Committee and was for noting by the Board. The greatest communication activity had been with regard to the local government reorganisation. It was noted that follow up sessions would be provided to both local authorities following requests from the unions.

 

Mark Whitby highlighted that consideration would need to be given to future consultations with members of the scheme due to the risk of fraudulent texts being sent by scammers. The Communications Officer was reviewing the systems used. Kevin Standish-Day suggested that he could send information to unison members via his blog.

 

Mark Whitby reported that the pension helpdesk would be re-opening the following week. It had been shut during the pandemic due to remote working with an answerphone system in place instead.

 

RESOLVED: 

 

(i)           That the Local Pension Board noted the 2021/2022 Northamptonshire              Pension Fund Communications Plan.

(ii)          That Cory Blose and Kevin Standish-Day discuss the potential inclusion of pension communications in the unison blog.

 

11.

Northamptonshire Pension Fund - Draft Cyber Strategy

Additional documents:

12.

Northamptonshire Pension Board Agenda Plan pdf icon PDF 456 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the Local Pension Board noted the Northamptonshire                               Pension Board Agenda Plan.

 

13.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The following report(s) contain exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1, Schedule 12A of Local Government Act 1972.

 

*DELETE AS APPROPRIATE*

 

Paragraph 1 – Information relating to any individual.

 

Paragraph 2 – Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

 

Paragraph 3 – Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

 

Paragraph 4 – Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority.

 

Paragraph 5 – Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

 

Paragraph 6 – Information which reveals that the authority proposes;

a)    To give under any enactment a notice under or by virtue of which requirements are imposed on a person; or

b)    To make an order or direction under any enactment

 

Paragraph 7 – Information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.

 

Members are reminded that whilst the following item(s) have been marked as exempt, it is for the meeting to decide whether or not to consider each of them in private or in public. In making the decision, members should balance the interests of individuals or the Council itself in having access to the information. In considering their discretion members should also be mindful of the advice of Council Officers.

 

Should Members decide not to make a decision in public, they are recommended to resolve as follows:

 

“That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that, if the public and press were present, it would be likely that exempt information falling under the provisions of Schedule 12A, Part I, Paragraph(s) XXXXX would be disclosed to them, and that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”

Minutes:

RESOLVED that:  Under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the Local Pension Board agreed that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that if the public were present it would be likely that exempt information under Part 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act would be disclosed to them.