RESOLVED that the Part A minutes of the meetings held 8 July 2014 be signed as a correct record.

No disclosures of interest were made during the meeting.

There was no urgent business to consider.

RESOLVED: That the allocation of business between Part A and Part B of the agenda be confirmed, as printed.

Thomas Ball (Grant Thornton) introduced the content of the Audit Findings Report for the London Borough of Croydon Pension Fund advising the Committee that it was anticipated that an unqualified opinion would be provided to the Pension Fund's financial statements and the Pension Fund Annual Report.

Nigel Cook, Head of Pensions and Treasury advised the Committee that the finalised Annual Report 2013-14 would be added to the www.croydonpensionscheme.org website.

The Committee RESOLVED: to approve the Croydon Council's draft Pension Fund Annual Report 2013-14.
 

In response to a request at the last Pension Committee, Nigel Cook, Head of Pensions and Treasury, outlined the range of training and educational opportunities which were available or had been put in place for elected Members to ensure compliance with the CIPFA Knowledge & Skills Framework.

Attendance at training events and visits are reported as part of the Pension Fund Annual Report and, from April 2015, will be scrutinised nationally.

Councillor Dudley Mead asked that his attendance at the Pantheon visit on 27 March 2014 be recorded on the Training Log.

The Committee NOTED the schedule detailed in the report.
 

With the caveat that additional guidance is still awaited from central government, Nigel Cook, Head of Pensions and Treasury, outlined the work being undertaken to establish a Pensions Board which would begin its work from April 2015.

The Committee NOTED the progress being made towards the establishment of a Pensions Board.
 

The Committee NOTED the content of the report.

Pratik Patel (AON Hewitt) presented a report to the Committee detailing how the market value of the Pension Fund investments stood at £753.1m as at 30 June 2014, an increase of £6.4m compared with the market value as at 31 March 2014. The report included analysis by asset class and fund manager.

In response to concerns that too much detail may have been included in the Part A section of the Progress Report. Councillor Simon Hall, Cabinet Member for Finance and Treasury, and Richard Simpson, Director of Finance and Assets and S151 Officer, in whose names the report is issued, indicated that they felt the division was appropriate.

It was recognised that there may be questions arising from the Part A report which ought to be asked when the Committee had moved into Part B.

The Committee NOTED the Part A content of the progress report.
 

Councillor Dudley Mead proposed and Councillor Simon Hall seconded the moving of the camera resolution.

The Committee RESOLVED that the Press and Public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or proceedings to be conducted, that there will be disclosure of confidential or exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12 A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.

The remainder of the meeting included disclosure of exempt information (as defined by paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A in Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972: ‘Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)'. The minutes of the discussion are therefore also exempt and not available to the public.

A summary of the discussion is below, as required by section 100C(2) of the Local Government Act 1972.