Agenda and minutes

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Jonathan Caleb-Landy

Councillor Jonathan Caleb-Landy joined the meeting at 18:35pm

To confirm attendance, the Chair will perform a roll call. Members will also have the opportunity to declare any interests.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

The Chair carried out a roll call to confirm attendance. There were no declarations of interest

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 24th November 2020.

This report has exempt minutes that contain information exempt within the meaning of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and is not for publication. The appendix has been circulated to the committee members only.

Any discussion on the contents of an exempt minutes will require the Committee to pass the proposed resolution at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and press from the proceedings for that discussion.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24th November 2020 were approved.

At the Audit and Pensions Committee meeting held on 1 December 2020, the committee delegated the decision to agree the membership of the Pension Fund Sub-Committee to the Chair, in consultation with the Committee members.

The Pension Fund Sub-Committee is asked to note the following membership as agreed by the Chair of the Audit and Pensions Committee in consultation with the Committee members:-

-        Councillor Iain Cassidy

-        Councillor Rowan Ree

-        Councillor Jonathan Caleb- Landy

-        Councillor Matt Thorley

-        Michael Adam (Co-opted Member)

RESOLVED

That the new membership for the Pension Fund Sub-Committee was noted.

This report has an appendix that contains information exempt within the meaning of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and is not for publication. The appendix has been circulated to the committee members only.

Any discussion on the contents of an exempt appendix will require the Committee to pass the proposed resolution at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and press from the proceedings for that discussion.

David Hughes (Director of Audit, Fraud, Risk and Insurance) introduced the report and provided a summary of the reasons why an independent review on Surrey County Council (SCC) was commissioned. Having considered the findings of the independent review undertaken by an independent pension’s advisor, the Council served a 12 months’ notice of  termination  on SCC for the provision of the pension’s administration service. A shared service arrangement with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) would also come to an end at 31^st December 2020 and that a in house retained pensions team would be established to take on the functions previously undertaken by RBKC.

It was noted that the report sets out the work done to assess the private and public provider markets, and having completed that assessment, the steps taken to assess and evaluate three public-public providers to make recommendations to Committee for the appointment of a future partner to provide the pensions administration service.

The Chair asked for further clarification to be provided on the current market position for pensions administration services across other Local Authorities. In response David Hughes,explained that there was a small number of private sector providers who had LGPS clients. It was noted that 9 other Local Authorities had already joined with the Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA) to provide their pensions administration service. In addition, many other Local Authorities had implemented their own in-house service or collaborated with their neighbouring boroughs. 

The Chair asked for a summary of the services that were provided by SCC. Eleanor Dennis (Pensions Manager), outlined  all the services provided by SCC. These included maintaining pensions records for all membership types, advising on regulatory changes within the LGPS, switching pensions into payments and dealing with applications for retirement and transfers.

Michael Adam (Co-opted Member) felt that poor data quality had been the cause of majority of the issues faced with SCC and asked whether the recommended provider would offer improved engagement with scheme members. David Hughes explained that the recommended provider, offered a high-quality service with regards to data quality improvement and maintenance.

RESOLVED:

That the Sub-Committee:

-       Approved for LBHF to join a public to public arrangement with Local Pensions Partnership Administration for the provision of the pension’s administration service, by delegating this council function pursuant to Section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972, subject to there being an agreed Delegation Agreement.

-       Noted that regular updates on progress moving to the Partnership, including costs, are made to Pension Fund Sub-Committee and Pensions Board.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 – ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Proposed resolution:

Under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The sub-committee agreed, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.