Agenda and minutes

The Pension Board had before it the annual report prepared by the Head of Finance which set out a review of the Board activity for the year 2015/16.

The report covered the membership of the Board for the year; meetings and attendance; meeting content; training and expenditure.  Appended to the report were the Pension Board Constitution and the Pension Board Training Policy for approval.  The Board then heard from Mr Gary Gray, Principal Pensions Officer, in respect of the report.

The report recommended:-

that the Board –

(a)       appoint a Chair;

(b)       appoint a Vice Chair;

(c)       approve the Constitution

(d)       approve the Training Policy appended to the report; and

(e)       note the remainder of the report.

(A)       Appointment of Chair

In compliance with the Local Government Pensions Scheme (Governance) (Scotland) Regulations 2015, the Chair of the Pension Board was rotated each year between the Union representatives and the employer representatives.  Mr Mulholland had been appointed as Chair for 2015/16, and so a member from the employer representative was required to be appointed as Chair for the 2016/17 period.

It was therefore proposed that Councillor Howatson be appointed to the role of Chair, and this was unanimously agreed by those present.  Councillor Howatson noted however that since there were no other members of the employer representative present, he would be happy to step down at a future meeting if another member had a strong wish to Chair.

The clerk advised that she had received an email from Mr Briggs, advising that he was unable to attend the meeting, but was content for the Chair to be appointed in his absence, while noting that he would be unable to take up the role of Chair himself.

The Board resolved:-

to appoint Councillor Howatson to the role of Chair to the Pension Board.

(B)       Appointment of Vice Chair

Councillor Howatson then took the Chair, and advised members that the next task for the Board was to appoint a Vice Chair, this time from the Union representatives.  It was proposed that Mr Mulholland be appointed as Chair, and this was unanimously agreed by the members present.

The Board resolved:-

to appoint Mr Mulholland to the role of Vice Chair to the Pension Board.

(C)       Constitution and Training Policy

The Board then considered the constitution and training policy, noting that there had been no change to either document in the last year.  There was some discussion on the role of the Board as a result of the section of the constitution which stated that ‘Pension Board representatives must not participate in or act as members of the Pension Committee’.  It was clarified that the role of the Board was to have a ‘watching brief’ over the Committee in order to secure compliance with regulations.  It was acceptable for Board members to contribute to the discussion at the Pension Committee but not to take part in any decision-making.

The Board members discussed the training policy and Mr Mulholland advised that there was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.