Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

It was noted that at the Special meeting of the Licensing and General Purposed Committee on 11 April 2011, Members had not had sufficient time to fully consider the report entitled “Academies – Employer Contribution Rates”.  Members had therefore requested that the meeting be reconvened so that the report could be considered in full. 

The Members in attendance at the meeting on the 11 April were:

Councillor Mano Dharmarajah (Chairman)

Councillor Husain Akhtar

Councillor Mrinal Choudhury

Councillor David Gawn

Councillor Susan Hall

Councillor Thaya Idaikkadar

Councillor Krishna James

Councillor Manji Kara

Councillor Ajay Maru

Councillor Raj Ray

Councillor Stanley Sheinwald

Councillor Simon Williams

Councillor Stephen Wright

Other Councillors in attendance:

Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane

Councillor Richard Romain

The Chairman stated that recommendations 1, 2 and 3 of the report were approved on 11 April and that Members need only consider recommendations 4, 5, 6 and 7.

He requested that any Member that had not been in attendance for the first part of the Special meeting on 11 April 2011 carefully consider whether they had enough information to make an informed decision on any of the remaining recommendations.  If any Member felt they had insufficient information, he encouraged them to refrain from voting.

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

It was noted that although most of the Members present held governor positions at Harrow Schools, these were on whole at primary and middle schools.  Furthermore, none of the Members present were governors at any of the 7 high schools seeking academy status.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive.

An officer stated that the report concerning Employer Contribution Rates for Academies had been considered at the meeting of the Pension Fund Investment Panel on 5 April 2011 and Members had agreed the officer recommendations.  The recommendations had subsequently been presented to the Licensing and General Purposes Committee on 11 April 2011 for consideration.

The officer advised that at the meeting on the 11 April 2011, a representative from Hymans Robertson also delivered a presentation on the issues relating to Academies and the pension fund highlighting the decisions and the implications that needed to be considered.

For the benefit of Members that had not been in attendance on 11 April 2011, the officer provided a brief summary of recommendations 1, 2 and 3.  In doing so, the officer made the following points:

·                     7 High schools in Harrow were seeking academy status which would have implications for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).  Upon achieving academy status, each school would be deemed a separate scheme employer (a Scheduled Body) and would have individual pension contribution rates;

·                     the schools were seeking to become part of the Council’s current employer pool which would result in a shared employer contribution rate.  However it was agreed at the previous meeting on 11 April 2011 that academies will not be able to pool with the Council;

·                     teaching staff could not join the LGPS but were part of a separate scheme for teachers and only non-teaching staff were part of the LGPS, therefore any changes would apply to the employers’ contribution rate in respect of the LGPS and not the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme.

An officer went on to discuss the remaining recommendations:

·                     Members should consider that recommendation 6 be amended to read: “The actuarial liabilities and deficit contributions for pensioners and deferred members are transferred to the Academies”;

·                     the officer recommendation was amended to require academy schools to contribute towards a share of the deficit in respect of former scheme members.  Information relating to previous employees at schools was not readily available and therefore a notional actuarial calculation would be carried out to determine the share of deficit;

·                     if academy schools were asked to contribute to the deficit in the pension fund in terms of only their active workforce, then this could have implications for Council tax payers especially if at some point in the future all Harrow schools chose to convert to academies;

·                     the 20 year deficit recovery period recommended by officers was deemed to be a realistic period.  However, it was acknowledged that a shorter period of 7 years might be preferable as the levels of risk and liability for the Council would be reduced albeit the risk was very low in the officer’s opinion and hence the 20 year deficit recovery period recommendation.  The implications of higher costs for the academy should not influence the Committee’s decision-making who were there in their capacity as Trustees of the pension fund.  Furthermore, the period chosen would not impact on the size of the deficit;  

·                     if the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.