Issue - meetings

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided updates for the Committee and recommendations (if applicable) to any changes required to the North East Scotland Pension Fund and the Aberdeen City Council Transport Fund.

The report provided an update on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Conditions for Transfers) Regulations 2021; details of the successful completion of the annual benefit statements project, including information on the work undertaken to ensure all casual employees were correctly recorded on the system, which would ensure a statement was automatically generated without any further issue from next year; detail of an interim response published by the Pensions Regulator in relation to their consultation on the new single Code of Practice; and a request for approval of overseas travel (depending on guidance at the time) for attendance at various Advisory Committees.

It was further noted that there had been minor amendments to the following documents which could be viewed on the NESPF website:-

·       Governance Compliance Statement (updated from partial to full compliance to reflect changes agreed as part of Annual Report and Accounts); and

·       Training Policy (updated to reflect revised CIPFA Knowledge and Skills

Framework)

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)      note the final outcome of the annual benefit statement project, which had been completed successfully despite the challenges of Covid and homeworking, for assurance (3.9.2 of the report refers);

(b)      note the updates to the Fund Policy documents as set out in 3.9.3; and

(c)      approve the travel for one appointed Advisory Committee Officer (Pension Fund Manager or suitable experienced Officer substitute) to attend the following Advisory Committees (as per item 3.9.6):

·       Partners Group, Denver, March 2022

·       Harbourvest, Boston, May 2022 (TBC)

·       Harbourvest, Boston, December 2022 (TBC)

·       Blackrock, Europe, 2022 (TBC).

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Board resolved:-

to note the decision of the Committee.