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Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting was held remotely via Microsoft Teams

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: Democratic.Services@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1/21

Disclosure of Interests

Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that, in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, they are required to consider in advance of each meeting whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI), and other registrable interest (ORI) or a non-registrable interest (NRI) in relation to any matter on the agenda.  If advice is needed, Members should contact the Monitoring Officer in good time before the meeting.  

 

If any Member or co-opted Member of the Council identifies a DPI or ORI which they have not already registered on the Council’s register of interests or which requires updating, they should complete the disclosure form which can be obtained from Democratic Services at any time, copies of which will be available at the meeting for return to the Monitoring Officer.

 

Members and co-opted Members are required to disclose any DPIs and ORIs at the meeting.  

·Where the matter relates to a DPI they may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the meeting unless granted a dispensation.  

·Where the matter relates to an ORI they may not vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation.   

· Where a Member or co-opted Member has an NRI which directly relates to their financial interest or wellbeing, or that of a relative or close associate, they must disclose the interest at the meeting, may not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the meeting unless granted a dispensation.  Where a matter affects the NRI of a Member or co-opted Member, section 9 of Appendix B of the Code of Conduct sets out the test which must be applied by the Member to decide whether disclosure is required.

 

The Chair will invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 2, to be recorded in the minutes.

 

 

Minutes:

There were none.

 

2/21

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

3/21

Update of Review of Pension Fund Governance Arrangements pdf icon PDF 110 KB

To consider the recommendations as set out in the Review of the Governance arrangements.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered a report which the Pension Board had commissioned into a review of the governance arrangements as they applied to the administration of the LGPS at Croydon in 2016. The purpose of this report, appended, was to check the progress made since that original governance review, carried out in early 2016. The review was focussed on the areas previously highlighted as amber or red as well as undertaking a full assessment of any existing policies which had been updated and new policies in place since 2016. The review also considered the governance arrangements in relation to the evolution to asset pooling through the London CIV.

 

The Chair reminded the Board of the context of the Governance Review and that its role was to advise the Pension Committee.

 

Senior Public Sector Benefits & Governance Consultant, Mary Lambe, gave a presentation, which can be viewed here (hyperlink).

 

In response to queries raised by the Board, the following was clarified:

 

           Staff resources were still an issue and it was suggested that the option of employing staff from out of the area who would work remotely was explored.

           It was highlighted that the staff resourcing issue was not unique to Croydon Council as recruitment was a challenge throughout the sector.

           The Pension Manager agreed to explore further options to address the staff resources.

 

 

During consideration of the recommendations, the Board discussed the following:

 

           Whether a Code of Conduct for Members and a new Officer Protocol was required.

           Whether it would be possible to include a 3-year term for councillors on the Committee to reduce turnover.

           Whether the Pension Committee met on a sufficient number of occasions as there were a large number of supplementary papers. More concise reports would be welcomed.

           Whether it would be possible to receive copies of London CIV reports.

 

 

RESOLVED – That the Board agreed with recommendations 1.1 and 1.2 in the report. Under 1.3 the Board made the following additional recommendations:

 

           That the Committee considered creating a Head of Pension Fund post which  would focus on the Fund and no other Croydon Council responsibilities.

           That an employee representative for Croydon Council be invited to join the Committee.

           That in areas where Croydon Council provided administrative services, a Service Level Agreement be drawn up.

           Bespoke procurement and recruitment policies be created for the Fund.

           It be mandatory for the Annual Report and Accounts to be presented to the Pension Committee before the General Purposes Committee

           Pay a small allowance to those members who were not part of Croydon Council.

4/21

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

 

Minutes:

This was not required.