Archived decisions

Agenda item: 7

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report

1. Executive Summary

1.1. The purpose of this report is to consider a training plan for the Pension Fund Panel.

2. Background

2.1. The Panel agreed at the meeting on 8 July 2009 that a detailed training plan should be prepared for the Panel and that training logs should be maintained for each member of the Panel.

2.2. The Panel's training activities have not previously been collated into a formal training plan, although training is considered when the Fund's Business Plan is reviewed each year.

2.3. A formal training plan will identify the training needs for the Panel as a whole and for individual members. It would also identify how those needs would be met. The plan will be reviewed annually including an evaluation of the extent to which the training provided has met the needs.

2.4. The Governance Compliance Statement required by the Government specifies that the Pension Fund Panel should consider adopting a training plan and maintaining training logs. This is not mandatory but adopting a training plan will enable the Pension Fund to demonstrate best practice in the Governance Compliance Statement. In addition, it is important at a time when pensions provision in the public sector is likely to be the subject of a much higher profile that members of the Panel are fully trained for their responsibilities.

3. Training plan for 2009/10

3.1. A draft training plan for 2009/10 is attached as Appendix 1 for the Panel's comments and approval.

4. Training logs

4.1. In conjunction with the training plan, it is suggested that a training log should be maintained for each member of the Panel to record the actual training undertaken during the year. The log will be kept by the County Treasurer and will include details of all relevant training courses, seminars and events attended by each member, based on information available to the County Treasurer from arranging training events or booking attendance.

4.2. Panel members will be responsible for notifying the County Treasurer of other training activities undertaken by them on Pension Fund matters. The County Treasurer will circulate the draft training logs to members at the end of each financial year to confirm accuracy and to complete where necessary the evaluation section. The training logs will then be published as part of the training plan for the following year to provide evidence of the Panel's commitment to training.

4.3. The training log will include an assessment of whether each training event has fulfilled the need it was intended to meet.

4.4. An example of the format of the training log is attached as Appendix 2.

5. Training sessions in November 2009

5.1. Four half-day training sessions have been arranged for Panel members in Winchester during November 2009, as follows:

2 November	Actuarial valuation and Investment management arrangements	Tim Lunn and Emily McGuire of Hewitt Associates
4 November	Local Government Pension Scheme - history, benefits, etc	Tim Hazelwood
16 November	Investments	Neil Osborne
17 November	Alternative investments	Aoifinn Devitt of Clontarf Capital

5.2. Members may wish to consider whether the content and presentation of these training sessions have met the Panel's needs and whether any further bespoke sessions or reports and presentations by the officers are required.

5.3. The County Treasurer will continue to circulate details of external conferences and other training opportunities to members of the Panel.

6. Recommendations

6.1. That the Panel agree the training plan for 2009/10 and the proposal for training logs.

6.2. That the Panel consider whether there are any further issues on which training sessions or reports are required.

i:\ . . . . \ian\docs\penpanel 201109 report trng plan1.doc 16 November 2009

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

Links to the Corporate Strategy

Other Significant Links

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. Equality objectives are not considered to be adversely affected by the proposals in this report.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1. The proposals in this report are not considered to have any direct impact on the prevention of crime.

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

No specific impact.

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

No specific impact.

Hampshire Pension Fund

Pension Fund Panel

Training Plan 2009/10

1. Background

1.1. Hampshire County Council as the administering authority for the Hampshire Pension Fund has delegated responsibility for the management of the Pension Fund to the Pension Fund Panel.

1.2. The Pension Fund Panel fully supports the principle that Panel members and officers have a duty to undertake all training on pension fund matters that is necessary to be able to fulfil their duties to the appropriate standard. Opportunities are made available to members and officers to attend training courses and seminars when necessary and appropriate.

1.3. This training plan has been prepared for the Pension Fund Panel for 2009/10. As the Panel's responsibilities extend beyond investment management of the Pension Fund, the training plan also covers pensions administration matters.

2. The regulatory and governance context for the training plan

2.1. The Myners principles codify the best practice in investment decision-making for pension fund management. The principles require pension fund trustees to consider how the principles apply to their own fund and report on a `comply or explain' basis. Training is a key factor within Principle 1 which covers effective decision-making:

· trustees should ensure that decisions are taken by persons or organisations with the skills, knowledge, advice and resources necessary to take them effectively and monitor their implementation

· trustees should have sufficient expertise to be able to evaluate and challenge the advice they receive, and manage conflicts of interest.

2.2. The Government also requires Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) to publish a Governance Policy Statement which includes a section on Training. A Governance Compliance Statement is also required which sets out the Pension Fund's compliance with the following principle on Training, Facility Time and Expenses:

a) that in relation to the way in which the administering authority takes statutory and related decisions, there is a clear policy on training, facility time and reimbursement of expenses for members involved in the decision-making process

b) that where such a policy exists, it applies equally to all members of committees, sub-committees, advisory panels or any other form of secondary forum

c) that the administering authority considers adopting annual training plans for committee members and maintains a log of all such training undertaken.

2.3. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has recently published a guide to the requirements for the Governance Compliance Statements in the context of the CIPFA/SOLACE publication `Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2007)'. The CIPFA guide links the principle in paragraph 2.2 above to the Framework's principles of:

· performing effectively in clearly defined functions and roles, and

· developing the capacity and capability of the governing body to be effective.

2.4. The CIPFA guide includes the further comment that the principle in paragraph 2.2 is aimed at making sure that all those serving on committees, sub-committees and panels receive levels of training that are appropriate to their needs and that suitable arrangements are made to ensure that this is properly resourced in terms of both time and finance.

2.5. The Pension Fund Panel fully endorse the importance placed on training in these principles. With this training plan and proposals to maintain training logs, the Hampshire Pension Fund will be in full compliance with this principle.

3. Pension Fund Panel

3.1. There are 13 members of the Pension Fund Panel, with two deputy representatives, as listed in Table 1. The table shows the experience of Panel members in terms of their length of service on the Pension Fund Panel.

	Membership
	of the Pension
	Fund Panel
County councillors:
M.N Kemp-Gee (Chairman)	4 years
T.K. Thornber (Vice Ch'man)	12 years
F.G. Allgood	4 years
C. Carter	Appointed 2009
B.D. Dash	12 years
A.G. Dowden	4 years
D.A Kirk	4 years	(2001 to 2005, reappointed 2009)
B. Tennent	Appointed 2009
T. Thacker	Appointed 2009
City councils' representative:
D. Jones	1 year
District councils' representative:
P. Giddings	2 years
I.R. Carr (deputy)	4 years
Pensioners' representative
E.W. Hughes	15 years
Employees' representative
P. Reynolds	2 years
B. Wood	Appointed 2009

3.2. All training opportunities are also made available to the Panel's independent adviser, Mr H Cole.

3.3. The Panel has a mixture of experienced members, who have served at least one full four-year term as members of the Panel, and recently appointed members. Panel members also have a range of relevant experience from their working lives which includes, in some cases, the financial services industry and the City of London.

4. Access to training

4.1. Training opportunities are made available equally to all members of the Pension Fund Panel, including the co-opted representatives of the city councils, district councils, pensioners and contributors as well as the county councillors. The full cost of attending training is met by the Pension Fund, including course fees, reasonable travel and accommodation costs.

4.2. Hampshire County Council's Internal Audit section suggested in a recent report on Pension Fund Governance that consideration should be given to making attendance at training courses compulsory for Pension Fund Panel members. This suggestion reflected the increasing complexity and profile of pension matters and the need for Panel members to keep up to date with current developments at a time of heightened scrutiny. Whilst it is important that Panel members prepare themselves properly to fulfil their responsibilities, it would not be practical to make attendance at training events a condition of Panel membership. The suitability and fitness for members for their role is best left to the Panel itself to monitor. Should any concerns arise, they can then be raised with the sponsoring body of the Panel member in question.

5. Officers

5.1. The County Council is currently accredited by Investors in People (IiP) which provides a framework for the development and training of all staff. IiP is a national standard for how organisations develop and communicate with their staff to meet business objectives. Each individual's training needs are assessed annually and training plans prepared for each section and department within the County Council. The actual training provided is evaluated each year to assess its effectiveness against the aims and objectives identified prior to the training event. In addition, professional staff in the County Treasurer's Department are required by the accountancy bodies to maintain their levels of Continuing Professional Development.

6. Proposed training in 2009/10

6.1. This training plan for 2009/10 has been designed to cater for the needs of the recently elected Panel members as well as providing an opportunity to update and refresh the knowledge of the more experienced members of the Panel.

6.2. Panel members were invited in July 2009 to identify their training needs and this has been used to design the content of the training plan for 2009/10. In particular, a series of four bespoke training sessions for the Panel have been held in Winchester in November 2009 using external speakers. These sessions covered:

· the history and future of the LGPS

· the scheme benefits

· actuarial valuations

· investment asset classes, including alternative investments

· investment management arrangements

· risk management.

6.3. These bespoke training sessions will be complimented by a range of other training opportunities which will be made available to Panel members during the year. These include many seminars and courses on pension fund matters provided each year by various organisations. Some are specifically tailored for LGPS funds, such as the Local Government Chronicle's annual investment summit held in September each year. The Pension Fund's investment managers hold annual client conferences and the Fund's actuary Hewitt also provides training events. The Local Government Employers organisation is considering whether to run a one-day refresher course in early 2010 for members who have previously attended its LGPS Fundamentals course. The County Treasurer will continue to circulate details of these training opportunities to members.

6.4. The Panel's independent adviser attends meetings of the group of independent advisers to LGPS funds. These meetings often include presentations by investment managers and others on topics of current interest. The independent adviser provides feedback to the Panel on these events as appropriate and relevant.

6.5. Reports to the Panel by the officers on new developments in pension fund matters will continue to include background briefing information and this will provide another means by which Panel members can keep up to date.

6.6. Panel members will also undertake background reading on pension fund matters and this too can contribute to meeting their training needs.

7. Training logs

7.1. A training log will be maintained for each member of the Panel to record the actual training undertaken during the year. The log will be kept by the County Treasurer and will include details of all relevant training courses, seminars and events attended by each member, based on information available to the County Treasurer from arranging training events or booking attendance.

7.2. Panel members will be responsible for notifying the County Treasurer of other training activities on Pension Fund matters. The County Treasurer will circulate the training logs to members at the end of 2009/10 to confirm accuracy and to complete where necessary the evaluation section. The training logs will then be published as part of the training plan for the following year to provide evidence of the Panel's commitment to training.

7.3. The training log will include an assessment of whether each training event has fulfilled the need it was intended to meet.

7.4. An example of the format of the training log is attached as Appendix 2.

8. Evaluation

8.1. The actual training undertaken by Panel members in 2009/10 will be evaluated using the training logs to assess whether it has fulfilled the training need identified at the outset. This information will be used to design the training plan for the following year.

Pension Fund Panel - Training Log 2009/10

Panel member's name: Councillor ...............................