Agenda and minutes

To note any changes to the membership of the Board.

The Chairman welcomed George Simmonds in an observer capacity as the Board had agreed to his appointment in principle at this stage as the Board meeting was held after the Full Council meeting. It was noted that George was replacing Juliet Weimar as a Scheme Employer Representative.  

The Board noted that there was currently one vacancy on the Board’s membership, and it was expected that this vacancy would be filled by the next meeting in August 2023.

Resolved:

To appoint Marlene Corbey as Vice-Chairman for the forthcoming year.

To note the attendance of any non-members of the Board present.

Cllr Nick Botterill attended the meeting in his capacity as the Cabinet Member for Finance, Development Management and Strategic Planning.

To receive any apologies for absence or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Laura Fisher.

To approve and sign as a true and correct record the Part I (public) minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 February 2023.

The Board’s action log is also attached for members’ information.

The Part I (public) minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 February 2023 were considered.

Resolved:

The Board approved and signed the Part I (public) minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 February 2023 as a true and correct record, and the Board’s action log was noted.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements through the Chairman.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

The Board welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up  ...  view the full agenda text for item 195.

There were no statements or questions submitted.

To consider the Part I (public) minutes of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committees held on 2 March 2023 and 23 March 2023.

The Part I (public) minutes from the last ordinary meetings of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee (WPFC) meetings held on 2 March 2023 and 23 March 2023 were considered.

Resolved:

The Board noted the Part I (public) minutes from the last ordinary meetings of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee held on 2 March 2023 and 23 March 2023.

A report for the Board’s ongoing oversight of:

•                Scheme, Regulatory, Legal and Fund Update

•                Risk Register

•                Administration KPI update – 1 January 2023 to 30 April 2023

a)    Key business plan items – Aggregation Backlogs / i-Connect & Controls / Resourcing

b)    Outsourcing updates

c)    McCloud & Dashboard  ...  view the full agenda text for item 197.

The Board considered the report of Jennifer Devine - Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund which provided information highlighting key issues and developments to enable the Board to fulfil its monitoring role.

The report detailed updates in the following areas:

·       Headlines

·       Key business plan items – Aggregations backlog, i-Connect & controls and Resourcing.

·       Scheme, Regulatory, Legal and Fund Update

·       Risk Register

·       Administration KPI update – 1 January 2023 to 30 April 2023.

·       Fund SWAP audit actions log 2022/23

·       Training - Update members on the Fund’s approach to member training

In response to questions, the Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, the Fund Governance Manager and the Pensions Fund Operations Manager explained that the aggregations backlog referred to the joining of employment records; appointment to the Employer Services Manager role to the new team structure was proving to be very challenging as suitably qualified applicants had not applied for the position; there may be a need for additional support for the development of a monthly cycle of work for the Employer Services Team; further investigations into the completion on target of the aggregations process with further information being sent to the Chairman and Cllr Richard Britton; it was anticipated that the KPI performance Improvement Plan would be met by early October 2023; officers confirmed that the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee will be asked for an extension to complete progress against internal audit recommendation item 10 – KPI’s, Reports & Monitoring of Staff Productivity, however officers felt that item 9 – Workflow Management should still be achievable by 30 June 2023.

Following the Committee’s decision to defer approval of the members training plan for the scheme year 23/24 in favour of a revised training strategy, officers confirmed that the revised strategy will be presented to the Committee at their June Investment focused meeting. It was noted by the Board that the annual MiFID II self-certification exercise had taken 3 months to complete during the scheme year 2022/23. Officers therefore request Committee member support in being able to complete this exercise more quickly. 

The Chairman thanked officers for their clear and honest reporting.

Resolved:

a)    to note the Fund updates and progress against the Business Plan 2023/24 key priorities;

b)    to endorse the risk register in Appendix 2 & the summary of risk changes since the last review, as a true and fair view of the risks currently being experienced by the Fund and to recommend that endorsement to the Committee;

c)    to note the progress recorded on the SWAP audit actions log, as well as the changes to the target dates, which are in line with the key business plan activities approved by the Committee at their meeting in March 2023;

d)    To recommend to Committee members their support for officers concerning the Fund’s MiFID II compliance obligations.

To receive training on the annual administration life cycle from the Fund Operations Manager.

The Board received an update presentation from Mark Briggs – Pension Fund Operations Manager on the 2023 non-KPI administration roadmap.

The Pension Fund Operations Manager commented on the administration work of the Member Services Team, Employer Services Team, Operations Team and Service Improvement Team and responded to questions about timescales for clearing backlogs, the receipt of information about new employees joining the Fund, the pensions dashboard and the structure of the Service Improvement Team.

Resolved:

To note the presentation update.

To receive an update by the Investment and Accounting Team Lead concerning the operational accounting arrangements, to include a Corporate Recharge update.

The Board considered the report of Christopher Moore – Pension Fund Accounting and Investment Officer, which highlighted the significant issues in relation to the Fund’s key financial controls.

The Pension Fund Accounting and Investment Officer reported that the full Wiltshire Council Accounts for 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 continued to be delayed due to the Wiltshire Council figures, however, work was progressing well with the completion of accounts and annual report for 2022/23 to present to the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee in July 2023.

In response to questions, officers indicated that the cash flow figures for June 2023 onwards required amending to include a positive figure rather than a negative one as detailed in the table at paragraph 11; would provide a written responses in relation to the differences of the total payment figure for March 2023 compared to previous months and paid contributions; confirmed that Fund officers would continue to seek the finalisation of a formal legal document outlining the Service Level Agreement Recharge from Wiltshire Council Finance Team.

Resolved:

The Board agreed to use the report to monitor progress against resolving the issues which have been identified, and the progress being made to develop accounting and control improvements.

To receive a report from the Fund Governance Manager.

The Board considered a report of Jennifer Devine – Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund and Richard Bullen – Fund Governance Manager which provided an update on the Fund’s performance measures for 2022/23 for six disclosure requirement areas identified in the report.

The report provided individual commentary for each of the low volume performance measures, as detailed below:

a)    ICO Data Protection breach log;

b)    tPR breach log;

c)    Freedom of Information (FOI) log;

d)    Subject Access Request (SAR) log.

e)    Complaints log;

f)      Internal Dispute Resolution Procedures (IDRPs) log;

In response to questions, officers explained that under the Freedom of Information log the second and fifth items were identical as analytical research groups requested the same information in different quarters; to enable comparison; officers confirmed that under the same heading no optant out information was held by the Fund, as auto enrolment was an employer responsibility under the Pension Act 2008.

Resolved:

1.    That the Board supported the view that there were no material operational needs present in the report that would warrant the attention of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee.

2.    That the findings of the low volume performance measures being monitored by officers on behalf of the Fund be noted.   

The Local Pension Board is asked to approve the contents of its annual report for the preceding year.

The Board received the Draft Local Pension Board Annual Report for 2023 prepared by Richard Bullen – Fund Governance Manager.

The Chairman highlighted that he had prepared the introduction to the Annual Report and thanked the Fund Governance Manager, for his hard work in producing the remainder of the report.

Officers noted that the budget table on page 12 would need to be updated and highlighted changes in the style of the report from previous years, in particular the introduction of vision goals associated with each section and the creation of an appendix for standard legal text. Officers explained that all recommendations for the previous 12 months had been accepted, noting that the Board’s recommendation for the Training Plan had been deferred into the 2023/24 Scheme Year.

Resolved:

The Board approved the draft LPB Annual Report, subject to the updates highlighted above.

Any other items of business which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency. Urgent items of a confidential nature may be considered under Part II of this agenda.

The Chairman referred to a matter relating to an employer within the Wiltshire Pension Fund that he would raise in Part II of the meeting due to its sensitive nature.

To note that the next ordinary meeting of the Board will be held on 10 August 2023.

The Board’s will be asked to review its Scheme Year Forward Work Plan is attached for members’ consideration.

The next ordinary meeting of the Board will be held on 10 August 2023.

The Board additionally considered the Scheme Year Forward Work Plan for the new scheme year and approved its content.

Resolved:

The Board noted the date of the next meeting and approved the Scheme Year Forward Plan.

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Numbers 17 – 18 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there  ...  view the full agenda text for item 204.

The Board considered the recommendation to exclude the public.

Resolved:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Numbers 17-18 and the additional urgent item at 19 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

To consider the Part 2 (confidential) minutes of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee held on 2 March & 23 March 2023.

The Part II (private) minutes from the last ordinary meetings of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee (WPFC) meetings held on 2 March 2023 and 23 March 2023 were considered.

Resolved:

The Board noted the Part II (private) minutes from the last ordinary meetings of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee held on 2 March 2023 and 23 March 2023.

To receive a verbal update on the report from officers updating members on the ongoing Brunel governance arrangements. To include the Clearglass audit update.

The Board received a verbal update on the report from officers updating members on the ongoing Brunel governance arrangements.

Resolved:

To note the update.

The Board received a verbal report from officers, following a request by the Chairman for further information about the reporting arrangements of an employer to the Wiltshire Pension Fund.

Resolved:

That the update from officers be noted and that a more detailed update would be reported to the Wiltshire Pension Fund Committee on 13 July 2023.