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The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
1.1 Apologies were received from Nigel Aurelius, Assistant Chief Executive Resources.
2.1 Members confirmed the following declarations of personal interest: Councillor In Receipt of Pension Contributor Huw Bevan NONE Self Glyn Caron Self Self and son-in-law. Wife is a deferred member Veronica Crick Husband Self Jon Horlor NONE Self Peter Jones Wife Self and wife 2.2 In addition to the above, Councillor Veronica Crick also confirmed a personal interest as a board member of Bron Afon Community Housing. 2.3 The CLO left the meeting.
3.1 The HoP highlighted the following key headlines from the report: • Historically, the Pension Fund accounts were included within the Council’s Statement of Accounts for audit purposes. The Accounts and Audit (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 removed this requirement and the consequence of this was that the Pension Fund was now subject to a separate audit certification and sign off. The Pensions Committee were being asked to approve the annual report and accounts in accordance with their role of discharging the duties of the Council as Administering Authority of the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund. • The audit had been slightly delayed this year, resulting in the need for a special meeting of the Pensions Committee in order to consider this report. The HoP reminded members of the Committee that they had considered a draft version of the Annual Report in June 2021 and he assured everyone that the audit had been a comprehensive process. • The accounts of the Pension Fund (and its working papers) were submitted to the auditor on the 25 May 2021 and a copy of the Pension Fund annual report and accounts 2020/21 were available in Appendix 1 of the report. • Following approval from the Pensions Committee, the Chair of the Pensions Committee would sign the Council’s Letter of Representation in order to complete the process ahead of the statutory deadline of 1 December 2021. • The HoP thanked Audit Wales and his own colleagues within the Pension Fund for the work that they had conducted during the audit process, and he concluded that it was a very positive outcome. 3.2 JR added the following headlines from the ISA 260 report: • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s audit had been successfully completed remotely. The Auditor General was due to sign off the audit on Thursday 18 November 2021. • The proposed audit opinion was to issue an unqualified audit and there were no uncorrected misstatements. There were only a small number of misstatements in the accounts that had now been corrected by management, and these were presentational or typographical in nature. • Appendix 3 of the ISA260 report (page 124 of the agenda) contained one recommendation, which had been picked up by the previous auditor; however it was acknowledged that this was a medium to long term issue for the Council to consider and it was not Audit Wales’ intention to reiterate it every year. • JR thanked the HoP and his colleagues for their work during the audit process and concluded that it was a very positive report. 3.3 The Chair praised the outcome of the audit and thanked officers and Audit Wales for their hard work during what had been a very difficult couple of years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 3.4 The Pensions Committee: (i) Approved the Pension Fund Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21; (ii) Endorsed the Chair of Pensions Committee and Chief Financial Officer signing the accounts indicating their approval; and (iii)Endorsed the Chair of Pensions Committee signing the Letter of Representation in respect of the Pension Fund.
4.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 13 December 2021. 4.2 The meeting closed at 10.10am.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
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