Agenda item

A report is circulated outlining the responses to the Board members self-assessment and proposes a training programme to be approved.

The Board is asked to:

a)       approve the attached Board Members Training Plan as proposed in Appendix 2;

b)       note the Framework for Training outlined in this report; and

c)       complete the tPR on-line toolkit within 12 months of their appointment.

Members considered their responses to self-assessment and the proposed training plan for the Board. It was understood that Board members were required to have a good level of working knowledge and would be supported to develop this. The Pensions Regulator had a toolkit to assist with training, members would also receive bespoke training sessions, a handbook and briefing notes. Training plans would be based on members’ self-assessments and would be recorded and training logs published in the Pension Board Annual Report. Members felt it would be unrealistic to expect all of them to be very knowledgeable about all aspects of the LGPS and concluded that the Board should aim to move towards a ‘Good’ rating within a year and aspire for the ‘Skilled’ level thereafter.  It was noted that a handbook was necessary to record resources used for training to ensure the membersalways had a point of reference. It was recommended that a ‘traffic light system’ be used to track progress made on training.

Resolved:

a)    to approve the attached Board Members Training Plan as proposed in Appendix 2;

b)   to note the Framework for Training outlined in the report;

c)    to complete the tPR on-line toolkit within 12 months of appointment; and

d)   to recommend that progress on training be monitored using colour-coding.