Issue - meetings

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Finance which provided various updates and recommendations (if applicable) to changes to the North East Scotland Pension Fund.

The report provided an update on the two Modern Apprentices who had started with the Fund in May 2023; the increase in Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pensions and CARE pots from April 2024; staff training; the Pension Regulator’s new general code; the tracing exercise undertaken in relation to 2027 “gone away” members where the Fund did not hold up to date addresses; and amendments to the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2018.  The report noted that there had been no cases relating to Fraud, Whistleblowing and Breaches of the Bribery Act this year.

The report advised that the following documents had also been updated:-

·       Local Contingency Plan (minor corrections for clarity, removal of data centre naming)

·       Cyber Security Policy (minor corrections for clarity, removal of names of some 3rd party external providers due to contractual changes)

·       Governance Policy (minor corrections for clarity, number of Committee members reduced from 13 to 9 following recent Council decision)

·       Breaches of Law Policy (updated to remove reference to Transport Fund).

Appended to the report were updated copies of the risk register and the Pensions Administration Strategy.

Members asked a number of questions in relation to the information provided in the report.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the updates to the Fund Policy documents in item 6.5 of the main report; and

(b)      note the remainder of the report for reassurance.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to congratulate Noah Cuthbert and Kornelia Malinowska, the Modern Apprentices who had now secured employment with the Fund; and

(ii)       to approve the recommendations.