A report of the Clerk and Treasurer was submitted to provide Members with proposals for the rearrangement of Authority meeting structures and decision-making procedures.

Within the proposed meeting schedule the Authority would continue to meet four times per year, to concentrate upon strategy and scrutiny, with time allocated for more formal reviews of policies and procedures.  A standard item at each meeting would be a report from the Chair of each Board advising Members on the business discussed at their respective Boards.  A Member training session would be held at the conclusion of every Authority meeting.  J Hattersley requested Members to let officers know of any suggestions or preference for training items.  Members noted that the LGE Fundamentals Training sessions would still need to be attended during the year in addition to any other training undertaken.

Meetings of the Corporate Planning and Governance Board would be held as and when timetabling arrangements required, rather than to restrict it to quarterly meetings.  The Board would operate to a split agenda where the first half of the meeting would deal with pension administration matters, and the second half to operate as an audit committee.  Occasional internal team presentations on certain aspects of Pensions Administration work would be brought to the Board.  The Investment Board would continue to meet quarterly to discuss management issues, and would hold additional meetings to discuss strategic matters as and when necessary.  Councillor Lawton commented that the Vice Chair and himself had suggested an additional meeting of the Investment Board be added onto the meeting schedule for a specific topic, and the matter would be discussed shortly with the advisors.  Occasional internal team presentations on certain aspects of investment work would be brought to the Board.

At the last Authority meeting it was suggested that some presentations be transferred from Board meetings to Authority meetings.  A number of the presentations would require advisor attendance, and would not be suitable for webcasting; and therefore these would remain on the Board agendas.  All Members would be informed when these presentations would be taken to the Board meetings, to provide the opportunity for them to attend.

It was suggested that the present Management Committee arrangements be kept.

Members considered the proposed meeting schedule for 2012/13 as follows:-

September 2012

20^th     Investment Board (already arranged)

28^th     LGPS 2014 Presentation (already arranged)

October 2012

11^th     Authority (already arranged)

November 2012

15^th     CP&GB

22^nd    Authority

December 2012

13^th     Investment Board

January 2013

17^th     Authority

February 2013

28^th     Investment Board

March 2013

14^th     CP&GB

21^st     Authority

May 2013

16^th     CP&GB

23^rd    Investment Board

June 2013

13^th     Authority (Annual Meeting)

20^th     CP&GB

RESOLVED – That:-

i)            The proposals contained within the report be accepted.

ii)           Councillor M Lawton, be appointed the Vice Chair of the Corporate Planning and Governance Board.

iii)          Councillor R Wraith, be appointed Vice Chair of the Investment Board.

iv)         The proposed meeting schedule for 2012/13 be approved.