Issue - meetings

(a)       That the Committee considered and approved the IAA draft and supported its recommendation to Council.

(b)       That the Committee delegated authority to the Chief Executive to approve minor amendments to the IAA before submission to Council.

(c)        That the Committee supported the new delegations between the Council, the new JGC and this Committee and recommend to Council that the Chair and Vice Chair would automatically be the Member and Deputy for the JGC.

(d)       That the Committee noted the progress made with the appointment of the operator.

Mr Latham (Clwyd Pension Fund Manager) introduced an update on the Working Together Project in Wales.

            Mr Latham explained the report was in three parts covering the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA), the required changes to the Councils’ Constitution (to reflect implementation of the new Joint Governance Committee (JGC)) and an update on the procurement of an operator.  The recommendations agreed by the Committee would be put to the full Council.

A summary of the main features of the IAA are as follows:

·         While the IAA is still a work in progress, it is not expected to change significantly and it will require a change to the Councils’ constitution.

·         It involves the creation of the JGC and an Officer Working Group (OWG).  The JGC would consist of an elected member representative from each of the 8 Constituent Authorities. The OWG will consist of officer practitioners where 2 officers per Authority will be members.

·         Each of the Constituent Authority’s represented will have one vote per member on the JGC.

·         The Chair and Vice-Chair of the JGC would be agreed at a later date.

·         A host council was needed to co-ordinate and link in with new JGC and Carmarthenshire County Council take on this role.

·         Allocation of costs, delegations and the arrangement to exit the Pool are also covered. In relation to governance, the IAA explains that there would be a training policy in place and provision for the JGC/OWG to take appropriate advice.

·         Although there is no scheme member representation co-opted onto the JGC, meetings will be open to the public and there are requirements to liaise with Local Pension Boards and hence their member representatives.

·         The location of the meetings will be rotated around the 8 Constituent Authorities.  Agendas, reports and minutes will be in Welsh and English, with a simultaneous translation of proceedings during the meetings.

·         With regards to the delegations to each Constituent Authority as set out in Schedule 2, it was recommended that these are delegated by Council to this Committee with the exception of points 5 & 6 (amendments to the IAA and termination of the agreement).  If there were any major amendments to these two points then would have to be reverted to Council.

            It was queried if the Host Council would change in the future.  Mr Latham explained that it could change in the future and Mrs McWilliam added that should the Host Council change, then it would need an amendment to the IAA.  This would have to be agreed by all Pension Fund Committees/Councils as it would be classed as a significant amendment.

            A question was asked about paragraph 7.1 of the IAA and how advice was to be provided.  Would Carmarthenshire County Council take on the role of monitoring officer for the pool?  Mr Latham explained that the expectation is it will likely be the Host Council. 

            Cllr Bateman asked about provisions for Voluntary Exits (page 36).  Mr Latham said it was hoped that this would not materialise but there was provision for any  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53