Agenda item

10:45

This report will present the latest position on the Fund’s risk register, including any new risks identified since the report of the last meeting. It will also present a new Risk Management Framework which sets out how the Fund manages identification, assessment and reporting of all risks for Funds.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    Note the latest risk register and accept that the risk register covers all key risks to the achievement of their statutory responsibilities, and that the mitigation plans, where required, are appropriate;

b)    Agree the new Oxfordshire County Pension Fund Risk Management Framework as set out at Appendix 'A'.

Mukhtar Master, Governance and Communication Team Leader, presented the report to the Committee. The key risks were highlighted to the Committee, and these included adding a risk for pension scams to members. This risk had been agreed at the Pensions Board and had been added and since a lot of work had already been done, the requirements had already been met and therefore the risk had been assigned a score of green, 3. There were no risks that had increased in the quarter. Risk 21, insufficient resource and/or data to comply with the consequences of McCloud Judgement and Sargeant, had reduced from a red rating, 12 to an amber rating, 8, as two new staff had been recruited to the project. The project plan had been developed and implemented and various enquiries had been sent out to employers. There had been a lot of progress and the risk had been mitigated well. Two risks had been removed from the risk register, the risk on legal challenge on the basis of age discrimination in the Firefighters Pension Scheme, as the amended legislation had been received and was in place  and secondly, the risk on the departure of the Independent Investment Advisor (IIP). The previous IIP left and been replaced by another qualified IIA by the APEX Group. All the other risks had been assessed and remained the same as last quarter.

The Committee were informed that a new Risk Management Framework had been developed for the fund setting out the key processes and responsibilities for effective risk management. This was not a mandatory document but useful to have in place.

The Chair asked about Risk 25, Potential loss of key members of staff and the Committee were informed that this was an emerging risk added to the register last quarter and had now become an issue as the Pension Service Manager, Sally Fox, would be retiring after 21 years of service and this would be her last meeting. The Service Manager would also be retiring within the next year so the Team would be losing key skills and knowledge. Discussions were taking place on how to mitigate the risk. The Chair commented that the risk should be red, and all agreed that given what was now known, Risk 25 should be red.

The Committee took the opportunity to thank Sally Fox for her dedicated 21 years of service to the fund.

Councillor Howson asked why Risk 13 and 14 had different scores and was advised that the Board had lost more Members and there was still a vacancy on the Board and the Committee had had its five voting Members in place for a while and when the two new Members joined, they would require training.

The Executive Director of Resources added that the two job descriptions were being updated and job adverts would be advertised as soon as possible, but there would be no handover for the first position.

Councillor Field-Johnson raised a point about Risk 14, the Board’s training had been good so felt that the risk rating should not be red but the turnover of Board Members was a high risk so should be red, so suggested that the risk be split into two risks. The Chair requested that this be looked into for next quarter.

ACTION: Risk 14 be reconsidered and be split into two separate risks.

RESOLVED: that the Committee noted the latest risk register and accepted that their statutory responsibilities, and that the mitigation plans, where required were appropriate taking into regard the comments from the Committee especially for Risks 14 and 25. The Committee also agreed the new Oxfordshire County Pension Fund Risk Management Framework as set out in Appendix A.