A report was considered which allowed the Board to consider future options for the chairing of the Board.

Members were reminded that at the last meeting of the Board, both the Chair and the Vice-Chair had stepped down part-way through their term due to changes in circumstances and work pressures.

This now gave the Board the opportunity to decide on future options for chairing the Board.

Members were informed the options for filling the role of Chair were:

a)      For the Chair to alternate between employer and Scheme member representatives after each three-year appointment cycle (the current arrangement).

b)     To appoint an independent non-voting Chair.

Members noted that the current arrangements worked in a situation where there was stability among the membership of the Board.  However, for various reasons membership of the Board had become less stable recently and this could create the risk of relatively frequent changes in Chair which would lead to further instability.

The alternative would be to appoint an independent Chair who would not have a vote.  Depending on the way in which an appointment was made and the number of meetings the cost of this could be between £5,000 and £10,000.  G Graham informed the Board that four funds within BCPP had independent Chairs, in each case the individuals were retired senior local government officials.  The feedback from the funds was that the arrangements they had in place were considered (principally because of the individual appointed) to have improved the overall performance of the Board.

The Board discussed both options at length, recognising the benefits that the right independent Chair could bring to the Board, but G Warwick believed strongly that the Chair must be a member of a body that was elected on behalf of a particular group of people i.e. a Scheme member or employer representative of the Fund.

M McCarthy commented that there were two strong arguments, both with their own merits but it was a difficult decision to make when the Board was not at full strength, and suggested officers made another concerted effort to recruit to the Board before the Annual Meeting in July.

N Gregory questioned whether the Chair had to rotate between an employer and a scheme member as, if not, this would add more flexibility.

G Graham commented that it was normal practice for the Chair to rotate but that it was a decision for the Board.

The Chair remarked that it was a difficult decision with valid comments on both sides, but did not think the Board was in a position to make the decision at the moment.

The Fund Director suggested deferring the decision to the Annual meeting in July, when hopefully the Board would be at full membership and amending the Constitution to remove the rotation requirements.

G Warwick questioned who would attend the BCPP meeting with Local Pension Board Chairs in May if the decision was deferred.

As acting Chair, J Thompson agreed to attend.

RESOLVED:

i)       That the decision around chairing arrangements for the Board be deferred to the Annual meeting in  July.

ii)      That the Authority be asked to agree to amend the Board’s Constitution to remove the requirement for rotation.