Agenda item

To consider the report and adopt the new policies.

DECISION:

To accept the report

To approve the Governance Policy Statement subject to including the following amendments

·         To add a paragraph highlighting the powers delegated by the Council to the Wales Pension Partnership

·         To amend sentence 4 (Main responsibilities of the Committee) to note To make some decisions in the context of administrating pensions, in exceptions e.g., appeals

·         To update the responsibilities of the Chief Finance Officer to highlight the interim arrangements for the period from 01/01/22

·         To add a note highlighting the training requirements of the Pensions Committee members (as has already been highlighted for Pension Board members)

·         To continue with the statement 'partly comply' while reviewing the statement if there are changes to the management procedure

Submitted - the report of the Pensions Manager, highlighting the requirement for the Fund to publish a Governance and Compliance Statement under Regulation 55 of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 (as amended) and to review that statement on an ongoing basis. The purpose of the statement is to set out the Fund's Governance Structure, the scheme of delegation, and the terms of reference for its Governing Bodies, the Pensions Committee and the Local Pension Board.

He stated that the current statement had been in force since 2008 and that the service had been reviewing and updating the statement in preparation for the Scheme Advisory Board's Good Governance Project that would come into force in April 2022. He explained that the main changes included providing more information on the functions and responsibilities of pension fund staff and also introducing a new part to the policy in relation to the role and responsibilities of the Pension Board. It was reported that the Statement had been submitted to the Pension Board in July 2021 and that the Board had made observations.

Members thanked the officer for the report, and agreed with the requirement to comply with the Regulations and report on the current situation.

During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were made by members:

·         That information should be included about the Wales Pension Partnership, considering that they were responsible for the Gwynedd Fund's activity.

·         That the responsibilities of the Head of Finance needed to be updated.

·         That the word 'some' in the sentence 'make some decisions in the context of administrating pensions' was vague - there was a need to use wording that explained this better.

·         That reference was made to training for Pension Board members, but not for the Pensions Committee

In response to the observations that the wording 'broadly compliant' was an ambiguous statement, it was noted that the current structure did not allow for full compliance. It was reiterated that the Wales Pension Partnership had considered the situation, and reported that it was possible to revisit the structure just before the 2022 Election, as well as the likely introduction of new regulations. It was suggested that the wording 'broadly compliant' should be kept, and for it to be reviewed if any changes occurred

RESOLVED:

To accept the report

To approve the Governance Policy Statement subject to including the following amendments

·         To add a paragraph highlighting the powers delegated by the Council to the Wales Pension Partnership

·         To amend sentence 4 (Main responsibilities of the Committee) to note To make some decisions in the context of administrating pensions, in exceptions e.g. appeals

·         To update the responsibilities of the Chief Finance Officer to highlight the interim arrangements for the period from 01/01/22

·         To add a note highlighting the training requirements of the Pensions Committee members (as has already been highlighted for Pension Board members)

·         To continue with the statement 'broadly compliant' and review the statement if changes are made to the structure of the regulatory procedure