Issue - meetings

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Pensions Manager which provided an update on any changes to the North East Scotland Pension Fund and the Aberdeen City Council Transport Fund strategies.

The report contained information and updates on the officer response to the draft Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2018; the Government response to its consultation on the indexation and equalisation of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions; the Altair 8.1 Testing Working Party in relation to improvements and changes to the administration system; an update on the draft Funding Strategy Statement; and any adjustments to the Scheme policies and statements.  Appended to the report was a revised signatory list to reflect staffing changes in Legal and Democratic Services and Commercial and Procurement Services.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)          approve the Pension Fund Signatory List as noted in Appendix II, for implementation as at 1 April 2018;

(b)          review and approve the policy document changes as detailed in the report; and

(c)          note the  remainder of the report

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Board resolved:-

to note the decision of the Committee.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Pensions Manager which provided an update on any changes to the North East Scotland Pension Fund and the Aberdeen City Council Transport Fund strategies.

The report contained information and updates on the planned updates to the LGPS Regulations; the annual review of all the major Scheme policies and statements; a request for a delegation of power to the Pensions Manager; the proposed appointment of an external legal advisor; the review of the secure online area of NESPF website; and a series of requests for approval of overseas travel for one appointed Advisory Committee Officers to attend the following Advisory Committees:-

·         Harbourvest – 5/6 December 2017, Boston

·         Partners Group – 13/16 March 2018, Switzerland

·         Harbourvest – May 2018, Boston

·         RCP, June 2018, Chicago

·         HarbourVest – December 2018, Boston

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       approve the delegation of power to the Pensions Manager to authorise deviations from the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations, as set out in 3.6.3 of the report;

(b)       approve the appointment of an external legal advisor to the Fund, as set out in 3.6.4 of the report, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services and approve the associated expenditure;

(c)       approve the overseas travel, as set out in 3.6.8 of the report; and

(d)       otherwise note the report.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Board resolved:-

to note the decision of the Committee.