Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions
Contact: Carol Johnson 01597 826206
No. | Item | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apologies To receive apologies for absence. |
|||||
Declarations of interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the Agenda. Minutes: Members of the Committee [excluding the Chair] declared interests as members of the Local Government Pension Scheme [LGPS]. These are personal interests only, but are not a prejudicial interest in accordance with Paragraph 12(b)(iv) of the Members’ Code of Conduct 2016. County Councillor T Van-Rees also declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a Local Government Pension and advised that his son who is an officer of the Council was a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
|
|||||
To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 10th July, 2017 as a correct record. Minutes: The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 10 July, 2017 as a correct record.
|
|||||
Powys Local Pension Board PDF 65 KB To receive a presentation by Gerard Moore, Chair of the Board. Minutes: The Committee received a presentation from Gerard Moore, Powys Pension Board Chair regarding the legislation establishing Boards, its role and relationship with the Pension and Investment Committee and issues it had considered and commented on to the Committee.
It was noted that The Pension Regulator [TPR] had fined London Borough of Barnet Pension Fund regarding governance and administrative aspects of its scheme. The learning points from this were: · That when TPR contacted an organisation it was important to respond · Where a Fund uses a third party to manage the Fund the Pension Authority does not absolve its responsibility for the Fund · Accurate information from employers was important.
In response to questions the Pension Board Chair advised that it was good practice for the Pension Board to comment on audit reports prior to these being considered by the Audit Committee. The Board could also support the Audit Committee in looking into issues in more detail.
|
|||||
Pensions Board minutes PDF 75 KB To receive for information the draft minutes of the Powys Pensions Board meeting held on 14th July, 2017. Minutes: The Committee received the Pensions Board minutes of 14 July, 2017.
|
|||||
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II - Opting Up PDF 73 KB To consider a report from the Strategic Director of Resources. Minutes: The Committee noted the report from the Strategic Director relating to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II – Opting Up. The Committee noted the process required to ensure the Pensions Fund operated at the required level from 3 January 2018.
The Committee was advised that the impact of the All Wales Pool on this status would need to be reviewed in due course.
|
|||||
Data Quality Testing Procedure PDF 61 KB To consider a report from the Strategic Director of Resources. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received the Data Quality Testing Procedure in relation to scheme member data as required by the Pensions Regulator’s Code of Practice 14 (published in 2015). It was noted that the Pension Board had considered the document and that this was a good example of its role in supporting the Committee.
|
|||||
Pension Fund Annual Report 2016/17 PDF 68 KB To consider and approve the Pension Fund Annual Report 2016/17. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received the Pension Fund Annual Report 2016/17. The Audit Committee had approved the Pension Fund accounts and the Wales Audit Office would sign off the accounts after the Committee had approved the Annual report.
|
|||||
General Data Protection Regulations PDF 77 KB To consider the report of the Strategic Director of Resources. Minutes: The Committee received the report regarding the General Data Protection Regulations 2017. It was noted that these come into force on 25th May 2018 and apply to all EU member states. The UK Government had confirmed that even though the UK will leave the EU in 2019, these regulations will be enforceable in the UK from May 2018.
The Committee noted the actions required to be undertaken by the Pension Fund Officers in conjunction with the County Council’s general data protection arrangements. A further report would be submitted to the Committee in Spring 2018 setting out the procedures adopted and actions taken in order to ensure compliance with these regulations.
|
|||||
Wales Pension Partnership Pooling Update To receive a verbal report. Minutes: The Strategic Director Resources reported that a number of operators had presented bids to an officer working group in late August. The Joint Governance Committee will appoint an operator to ensure that the Pool is operational from 1 April 2018.
In response to questions the Strategic Director Resources advised that even when the Pool is operational the Pension Fund would still be sovereign and the Pension and Investment Committee would still be required to develop its investment strategy and monitor performance.
|
|||||
Forward looking business plan PDF 207 KB To consider the forward looking business plan. Minutes: The Committee noted the Forward Looking Business Plan and the Training Plan.
|
|||||
To review decisions taken at previous meetings. Minutes: The Committee noted the Decision Review report.
|
|||||
Exempt item The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following items. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting. Minutes: RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following items of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007).
|
|||||
Quarterly Investment Update - Quarter 2 To consider a report from Aon Hewitt. Minutes: Simon Mayne, Aon reminded the Committee that the Quarterly Investment Updates looked at what the markets had done and where they are going and whether the Pension Fund needed to rebalance investments.
The Committee received the quarterly report for the period ended 30 June 2017. The Committee noted that the rating of managers was continuously monitored and that over Quarter 2 the returns were flat due to market fluctuations. In response to questions Simon Mayne advised that the fund had benefited from the US stock market’s recent performance. Aon advised that for a Portfolio of this size the balance between passive and active equity was correct and that the way the passive equity portfolio was manged was under review.
In response to questions Aon advised that the Wales Pension Partnership Pooling should result in significant economies of scale in respect of fees.
|
|||||
Medium Term Asset Allocation [MTAA] Update To receive a report from Aon Hewitt. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee was advised that the current MTTA mandate which had started on 1 March 2014 had returned 44.3% compared to the benchmark of 44.4% as at 30 June 2017. The current mandate has added £0.3m net of costs compared to the MTAA benchmark over the 40 month period to 30 June 2017.
14.1 Schroder Aon advised that it considered that Schroder managers were not meeting their objectives and had not updated their processes in line with industry standards. Aon was downgrading the manager to qualified. As a result, in line with the Committee’s previous decision to only use Buy rated managers, Aon was recommending to the Committee that the funds be moved from Schroders to Blackrock which provides passive equity management.
|
|||||
Hedge Fund of Funds Mandate To receive a presentation by Aon Hewitt. Minutes: The Committee received Hedge Fund training.
Mr M Weale left the meeting.
|
|||||
Private Equity To receive a presentation by Habourvest. Minutes: The Committee received a presentation from HarbourVest.
It was noted that the next meeting would be held on 15 December, 2017.
|