RESOLVED – That Councillor John Mounsey be appointed as Chair of the Authority for the ensuing year.

RESOLVED – That Councillor Alan Law be appointed as Vice-Chair of the Authority for the ensuing year.

A report was submitted to approve appointments to the Authority’s Committees for the 2021/22 Municipal Year in line with the political balance rules applying to the Authority.

It was noted that the following Councillors had been appointed to the Authority by each of the District Councils for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

The following members had been designated by the District Councils as the s41 members whose role was to answer questions about the work of the Authority.

Members were reminded that the Audit Committee and the Staffing, Appointments and Appeals Committee were both made up of the s41 members plus one non-Labour Councillor to reflect the political balance of the Authority.

To address the shift in the political balance of the Authority it was suggested to increase the membership of each committee to six as detailed within the report.

It was recommended that it was written into the Constitution that the Chair should not be a member of the Audit Committee to mirror arrangements in companies where those in specific roles did not sit on Audit Committees.

It was agreed that the Staffing, Appointments and Appeals Committee should consist of the s41 members but that this did not need to be the case for the Audit Committee.

Cllr A Sangar was nominated to the Staffing Appointments Committee and Cllr S Clement-Jones to the Audit Committee.

It was agreed that all other nominations would be made in writing within a week of the meeting.

RESOLVED – That Members:

i)      Note the members appointed to the Authority by the District Councils.

ii)      Note the members appointed to answer questions in the meetings of the District Councils’ Full Council.

iii)     Authorise an increase in the number of seats on each of the Authority’s Committees to six and agree to amend the Constitution accordingly.

iv)     Agree that the Constitution should be amended to provide that the Chair may not be a member of the Audit Committee.

v)     Agree that Cllr Sangar be appointed to the Staffing, Appointments and Appeals Committee and Cllr Clement-Jones to the Audit Committee.  All other nominations to the Committees to be provided in writing within a week of the meeting.

The Chair, Cllr Mounsey, thanked Cllr Stowe, the outgoing Chair, for all the hard work he had done on behalf of the Authority commenting that he would be a hard act to follow.

He also welcomed all the new members and thanked the members who were not continuing on the Authority for their contributions; Cllr J Gilliver from Doncaster MBC, Cllrs A Atkin and T Yasseen from Rotherham MBC and Cllrs A Murphy and A Teal from Sheffield CC.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

A report was considered which formally reported on the Annual Review of the Constitution which had been undertaken by officers.

Members were reminded that the Constitution had undergone significant updating in the last two years.  Officers had conducted a further annual review and, with the exception of the issues set out within the report and which had been discussed at item 3, it was not considered that further amendments were required.

RESOLVED – That Members:

i)      Note that officers had undertaken the Annual Review of the Authority’s Constitution.

ii)      Approve the amendments to the Constitution as set out in the report.

A report was submitted which sought approval of the Learning and Development Strategy covering members of the Authority and Local Pension Board for 2021/22.

Members were reminded that they and members of the Local Pension Board had obligations to maintain an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding to allow them to effectively participate in decision making.  This meant that the Authority as an organisation needed to put in place arrangements to ensure that members were supported to meet them.

At Appendix A was a Learning and Development Strategy for the coming year which, in response to the review of governance carried out by Hymans Robertson, specifically addressed the need for both members of the Authority and the Local Pension Board.  It was noted that there were several changes from previous strategies; these were set out in the report.

It was noted that the Local Pension Board had considered the Strategy at their April meeting and endorsed the proposed approach.

RESOLVED – That Members:

i)      Note the obligation on Members of the Authority to ensure they maintain a sufficient level of knowledge and understanding of pension matters to enable them to effectively participate in decision making.

ii)      Approve the Learning and Development Strategy as set out at Appendix A to the report.

Members considered the Annual Report of the Authority’s Audit Committee for 2020/21.

The report set out the work undertaken by the Committee and indicated how the Committee had addressed the various different aspects of the role of an audit committee set out in professional standards.

It was noted that the Audit Committee’s Annual report provided a part of the evidence base used in constructing the Annual Governance Statement as it provided a view on the overall control environment.

RESOLVED – That Members receive and note the Annual Report of the Audit Committee for 2020/21.

G Warwick, Chair of the Local Pension Board, introduced the Local Pension Board’s Annual Report for 2020/21 which was at Appendix A.

The Board’s work during the year had covered a wide range of activity with particular focus on the performance and development of the Pensions Administration service and the monitoring of regulatory compliance.

G Warwick informed the Board that it had been the first full year during which the Board had operated with an independent advisor and C Scott had had a clear impact on improving the Board’s operations.

The Board had conducted an effectiveness survey to understand its strengths and weaknesses which had been facilitated by the Independent Advisor the results of which were set out in the Annual Report.

Future plans included working with the Authority to develop the Board’s approach to training and member’s knowledge and understanding and monitoring the Pensions Regulator’s changes to its Codes of Practice and review the Authority’s compliance.

RESOLVED – That Members:

i)      Receive the Annual Report of the South Yorkshire Local Pension Board.

ii)      Note the Board’s plans for future work.

A report was submitted to secure the Authority’s approval for amendments to the Constitution of the South Yorkshire Local Pension Board.

The Board had recently conducted an effectiveness survey and, as a result of this, had agreed a number of areas for further development.  Some of these could be addressed by the independent advisor and officers but there were areas where the Authority’s permission was required as implementation would require changes to the Board’s Constitution.  These were:

·         An increase in Terms of Office for Non-Councillor Members.

·         An increase in Terms of Office for Councillor Members.

·         The facility for virtual and hybrid meetings within the Board’s arrangements going forward.

It was noted that the term of office for Councillor Members would need to be discussed with the District Council leaders.

RESOLVED – That Members:

i)      Approve the proposals made by the Local Pensions Board in relation to the terms of office for non-councillor members and the nature of meetings.

ii)      Note the request to consider the terms of office of councillor members and agree to seek the views of the South Yorkshire Leaders Group.