Issue - meetings

The item was introduced by Alistair Wickens (Technical Specialist, Pensions Fund Policy and Governance). The Forward Plan was included, which outlined future training for members and showed the results of the governance review would be included on the agenda for the next meeting. The deadline for submissions to the Hymans Robertson skills and knowledge assessment questionnaire was the following week.

The risk scoring method had changed very slightly to bring it in line with the Warwickshire County Council approach to risk management. The resulting changes were outlined in the report. Alistair Wickens said the rating associated with governance failure had been increased to reflect the increased governance requirements placed on pension funds following the introduction of the single code of practice. The rating for failure to meet demand had also changed slightly to reflect the challenges with recruitment and retention.

The administration strategy had been recently reviewed and some small changes had been made to the wording to reflect the Fund’s increasing use of i-Connect. A revised admissions and terminations policy has been drafted by Hymans Robertson and was due to be presented in December, following a deliberate delay to align it with the funding strategy statement.

Two Board members had expressed an interest in attending the LGPS governance conference in January. Other members were welcome to attend if they wished.

Members’ attention was drawn to the government’s announcement of a pension review, looking at unlocking the LGPS investment potential. The terms of reference for this had been published by the Treasury.

The Chair stated his belief that use of artificial intelligence might be something that could be taken into consideration for the risk register.

Members noted the contents of the report.