Issue - meetings

Neil Buxton, Technical Specialist - Pension Fund Policy and Governance summarised this report, noting that The Pensions Regulator required appropriate training to be provided for pension committee members, members of the local pension board and senior officers with a responsibility for investment matters and the administration of a public sector pension scheme.  The Pension Fund Investment Sub-Committee had approved the training policy appended to the report in September 2021.  Neil Buxton issued a schedule of training opportunities at regular intervals and a system was being implemented in conjunction with Hymans Robertson to provide a portal for members to register training received. An overview of the system would be provided in due course.  The National Knowledge Assessment would be used to formulate the plan going forward and it was anticipated that the assessment would next take place in January or February 2022.

Members asked for links to recorded training sessions to be shared so that those unable to attend at the allotted time could still appraise themselves of the detail.  The Chair indicated that he intended to list training sessions offered to the Board in his next annual report; this would spark discussion on how the training was received and where knowledge gaps existed.

Chris Norton, Strategy and Commissioning Manager (Treasury, Pension, Audit & Risk) noted that a lot of sessions were taking place outside the formal Committee setting which provided not only opportunities for training but also to engage in discussion of key issues in an attempt maximise the productivity of formal committee and board meeting time.

The Local Pension Board noted the report and training policy.