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Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Merseyside Pension Fund Annual Governance Report, Statement of Accounts 2010-11 Part 5

Cllr Steve Foulkes referred to the “massive” training given to councillors with oversight of the Merseyside Pension Fund. He referred to continuity and how it was important that the same councillors learn. He asked if the learning could be transferred? Ian Coleman said it was a statutory requirement on trustees to comply with the national … Continue reading “Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Merseyside Pension Fund Annual Governance Report, Statement of Accounts 2010-11 Part 5”

Cllr Steve Foulkes referred to the “massive” training given to councillors with oversight of the Merseyside Pension Fund. He referred to continuity and how it was important that the same councillors learn. He asked if the learning could be transferred?

Ian Coleman said it was a statutory requirement on trustees to comply with the national requirements. He had to make an annual return to government on the training that had taken place of trustees and of the Chair. He said it was a more rigorous training regime.

Cllr Steve Foulkes asked the Cabinet to endorse the report.

The meeting moved onto item 6 Statement of Accounts 2010-11 which was also introduced by Ian Coleman, Director of Finance. Ian Coleman said the accounts had been agreed by the Audit and Risk Management Committee and were a “weighty tome”. The Audit Commission had given an unqualified opinion. There had been a number of technical alterations, however there was no change on the position.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said he had discussed it with the District Auditor. He referred to the “tortuous route” and rewrites and said they had met the deadline “only just” which was “not impressive at all”. He asked why they [Wirral Council] were struggling when other local authorities were not?

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Job Evaluation, Merseyside Pension Fund accounts, Part 4

Chris Hyams, Head of HR & OD introduced Agenda Item 23: Job Evaluation. She said she sought Cabinet’s approval for the implementation of stage 4 which covered the Heads of Service and Chief Officers. The costs were in Agenda Item 35 – Exempt Appendix – Job Evaluation. She wanted to complete the process and they were working on stages 2 and 3. Stage 3 was underway regarding the evaluation of jobs.

Cllr Steve Foulkes asked if there was much option about taking it through to the upper grades?

Chris Hyams responded that there had been a local agreement in 2008 [by Cabinet].

Cllr Adrian Jones referred to 3.1 in the report . The recommendations were agreed.

Ian Coleman, Director of Finance introduced item 4 Merseyside Pension Fund Accounts. He said it was a statutory report that had already been agreed by the Pension Committee and the Audit and Risk Management Committee. The auditors had given an unqualified opinion.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said he was happy to endorse the accounts. The item was agreed.

Ian Coleman, Director of Finance introduced item 5 Audit Commission – Merseyside Pension Fund Annual Governance Report. He said it had already been presented to the Audit & Risk Management committee.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said that Wirral Council had been entrusted with the governance of one of the largest pension funds. Regarding best practice and skills, he asked how much it was possible for cross-skilling so Wirral’s corporate governance could pick up best practice from the Pension Fund?

Ian Coleman, Director of Finance said the Pension Fund was a division in the Department of Finance. He said the Pension Fund was a single service operation so governance was easier. The Pension Fund had to stick to Pension Committee policies and had oversight by the Audit Commission.

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report Part 3

Cllr Ann McLachlan said [the Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan] was an “important piece of work” whose “natural home is the Children’s Trust Board”. She said she wanted to move a motion.

Cllr George Davies mentioned Cllr Sheila Clarke and Cllr Mark Johnston. He said that they “owe it to the people of Wirral” and the “statistics are frightening”. He talked about a Tranmere Community Project which had welcomed people from the United States of America to share views. He said certain parts of the Wirral had not altered in the areas of unemployment, housing and deprivation. He said, “Talking has to stop, action has to start.”

Cllr Steve Foulkes referred to the conference and the will to tackle the issue as well as recent press coverage. He also talked about the governance priorities, trends going forward into the future and the last paragraph in which it was declared to be a Budget priority. He said in light of the consultation exercise, he would prefer to call it a “key priority” as it was premature to fit it in the Budget. He said the last paragraph reflected that they would make it a key priority for 2012/13.

Cllr Ann McLachlan said she recognises the issues and welcomed the Action Plan. She emphasised the extreme urgency and referred to an Institute for Fiscal Studies study and referred to 600,000 in child poverty by 2012/13 which would mean the 2010 targets would be missed. She asked Cabinet to agree the recommendations. She thanked people and wanted to make tacking child poverty a key priority. Cllr Steve Foulkes seconded the motion which was agreed.

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Declarations of Interest, Minutes, Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report Part 2

Cllr Foulkes welcomed people to the Cabinet meeting and asked for declarations of interest. There were three declarations of interest. Cllr Ann McLachlan declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5, Cllr Harry Smith declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5 and Cllr Adrian Jones declared a personal interest in items 4 and 5. All three declarations of interest were to do with their involvement with the Merseyside Pension Fund.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 22nd September 2011 were agreed.

Cllr Foulkes asked for a change in the agenda order, after Item 3 on Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report, he wanted to go ahead to Item 23 on Job Evaluation, then back to the agenda as planned. The reason for this change was there had been interest from a trade union official in item 23 (Job Evaluation). Dealing with it earlier in the meeting would allow this person to go home.

Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive introduced the Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report. Jim Wilkie said this report on progress was a statutory duty. He said the previous report had been in April, he referred to the working group and a consultation event at the Floral Pavillion. The strategy and the action plan were appendices to the report and he was asking for approval to authorise further consultation. There were links with the Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Life Chances Commission, which was chaired by Rt Hon Frank Field MP. Jim Wilkie also referred to supporting families, partnership arrangements and the Children’s Trust Board.

Cllr Foulkes asked for any comments.

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Motions on Item 7 (Audit Commission – Annual Governance Report) & Item 19 (Report to the Corporate Governance Cabinet Committee: Independent Review) Part 1

There were motions on items 7 & 19 of last night’s Cabinet meeting.

The first was on item 7 (Audit Commission – Annual Governance Report) and the second was on item 19 (Report to the Corporate Governance Cabinet Committee: Independent Review). Both are included below (click on the images for larger versions).

Motion Item 7 Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011
Motion on Item 7


Motion item 19 Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011
Motion on Item 19