The Chairman explained that at a meeting of the Regional Pension Board Chairs it was suggested that some work be done between boards to look at the way they do things, to get ideas of best practice and to set up benchmarks in the long term for the way that Pensions Boards could be run. The Chairman felt that this would be useful and as such attended a meeting of the Cheshire Pensions Board. 

He informed the Board how the Cheshire Pensions Board meeting was run, he noted that although the Agenda was very similar, there were considerable differences in how the board functioned.  For example, meetings of the Cheshire Pensions Board were not held in public, it had its own budget, the Chairman chaired the Employers meeting etc. 

It was hoped to get an agreement to undertake some further work together and to learn from each other going forward.  The Chairman of the Cheshire Pension Board was in attendance and he briefly discussed working together and felt it was a good time to think about how Boards operate whilst the Good Governance Review was ongoing and they were looking to update their Terms of Reference. 

He felt that the formal meeting was very well run.  He explained that the Cheshire Board was not a public meeting as the Committee already provided the public meeting that gave the transparency required as a public organisation and it was felt that the role of the Board was to assist the administering authority.

The Chairman of the Cheshire Pension Board discussed their workplan and how it was created.  The work plan existed so that the Board could prove it had assisted the fund in the achievement of its objectives and he hoped they would never have anything on the Agenda that the fund itself did not think was helpful.

In response to a query, the Chairman of the Cheshire Pensions Board confirmed that although Board Members could attend the Committee, it was rare.  They would perhaps attend for a specific item of interest to the Board but as Chairman he felt it was unnecessary as the Board was not a scrutiny committee.

          RESOLVED:  to note the contents of the report.