Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions

Contact: Stephen Boyd  01597 826374

Items
No. Item

PIC47- 2016

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Tom Turner.

PIC48- 2016

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.

Minutes:

All members present declared interests as members of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

PIC49- 2016

Minutes pdf icon PDF 72 KB

To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 11th July 2016 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 11th July 2016 as a correct record.

PIC50- 2016

Review of Fund Employer Covenants pdf icon PDF 66 KB

To consider the report of the Strategic Director Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the results of the review of employer covenants which set out the assessment of risk for each of the admitted bodies and any mitigations put in place. Members were advised that since the report had been drafted a risk sharing agreement had been signed with Theatr Brycheiniog.

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decision

To note the contents of the report.

Best practice.

 

 

PIC51- 2016

Bulk Transfer Payment - NWTRA pdf icon PDF 58 KB

To consider the report of the Strategic Director Resources.

 

Minutes:

The Committee noted details of the bulk transfer payment to the Gwynedd Pension Fund on 6th September in respect of 12 former Powys County Council staff who transferred to the North Wales Trunk Road Agency on 31st March 2012.

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decision:

To note the payment of £1,315,686 to the Gwynedd Pension Fund in respect of NWTRA transferees, on 6th September 2016.

As per report

 

PIC52- 2016

Bulk Transfer Payments - Coleg Powys pdf icon PDF 60 KB

To consider the report of the Strategic Director Resources.

 

Minutes:

The Committee noted details of the transfer of funds to the Swansea Pension Fund in respect of Coleg Powys transferees.

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Recommendation:

To note the payment of £10,000,000 on 31st March 2016 and £86,045 on 13th September 2016 were made to the Swansea Pension Fund in respect of Coleg Powys transferees.

As per report

 

PIC53- 2016

New Admission Body - Camping & Caravanning Club pdf icon PDF 59 KB

To consider the report of the Strategic Director Resources.

 

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the Camping and Caravanning Club had been admitted to the Powys Pension Fund following the transfer of a service with two employees.

 

Recommendation:

Reason for Recommendation:

To note the admittance of the Camping & Caravanning Club to the Powys Pension Fund.

As per report

 

PIC54- 2016

New Admission Body - Solo Service Group pdf icon PDF 59 KB

To consider the report of the Strategic Director Resources.

 

Minutes:

The Committee was advised that Solo Service Group had become a Pension Fund employer following the transfer of the Schools Cleaning Service (Ystradgynlais) from Powys County Council. Twenty-six employees were covered by the admission agreement, which was open.

 

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decision:

To note the admittance of the Solo Service Group to the Powys Pension Fund.

As per report

 

PIC55- 2016

Pension Fund Pooling - Update pdf icon PDF 58 KB

To consider the report of the Strategic Director Resources.

 

Minutes:

The Committee received an update on progress towards the creation of a pooled investment fund for Welsh local government pension funds.

 

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decision:

To note the progress made in investment pooling in Wales since the last update.

As per report

 

PIC56- 2016

Approval Memorandum of understanding relating to the procurement of services by the administering authorities of the local government pension scheme in Wales pdf icon PDF 133 KB

To consider a report by the Solicitor to the Council.

Minutes:

The Solicitor to the Council updated the Committee on work being undertaken in preparation for the establishment of a pooled investment fund for Wales. The Monitoring Officers of the eight administering authorities had been working on the governance arrangements and had developed a Memorandum of Understanding.

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decisions:

1   To approve the draft Memorandum of Understanding attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

 

2   To authorise the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee in consultation with the Solicitor to the Council and the Strategic Director – Resources to approve any minor amendments to the draft MoU.

 

3   To authorise the Strategic Director – Resources to sign the finalised MoU.

 

4  That the Chair of the Committee or in their absence, the Vice-Chair be appointed to the Joint Chairs Group.

 

To ensure that the Host Operator is procured in  sufficient time to achieve the target date of implementation of the pooled arrangements by April 2017

 

PIC57- 2016

Powys Pension Board Minutes pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To receive for information the minutes of the meeting of Powys Pensions Board held on 15th July 2016.

Minutes:

The Committee received the minutes of the last meeting of the Powys Pensions Board held on 15th July 2016. The Committee noted the recommendation from the Board that the Committee receive total expense ratios on a manager by manager basis every quarter. Aon Hewitt had included the information in their latest quarterly report.  The Committee noted the concerns raised by members of the Pensions Board that there were not covered by the Council’s insurance policy. The Pensions Manager advised that he had raised this with the Council’s Insurance Officer and that they were working to find a solution.

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decision

That details of total expense ratios are received by the Committee on a manager by manager basis quarterly.

 

To increase transparency of management fees.

 

 

PIC58- 2016

Exempt Items

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 11.8 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).

 

PIC59- 2016

Strategy Health Check Discovery stage

To consider a report by Aon Hewitt.

Minutes:

Rachel Pinder from Aon Hewitt outlined the process being undertaken to review the Fund’s investment strategy and presented the results of the survey undertaken by members. At the next meeting she would be looking at the strategy composition of the Fund with a view to maintaining the current level of return whilst reducing risk. The survey would also be used to focus any training requirements for the Committee.  

PIC60- 2016

Forward Looking Business Plan

To consider a report by Aon Hewitt.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a summary its decisions over the last year and its work plan for the year ahead. The Chair noted that the composition of the Committee was likely to change after the local government elections in May 2017 and that it would be helpful for the employees’ representative to be appointed before then.

 

PIC61- 2016

Quarterly Investment Report

To consider the quarterly investment report from Aon Hewitt.

Minutes:

The Committee received the quarterly report for the period ended 30 June 2016. The value of the Fund had grown by £25m over the quarter by a further £28m by the 31 August 2016 with the Fund benefitting from the fall in the value of Sterling since the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. 

 

Aon Hewitt had included the managers’ expense ratio in the report as per the recommendation of the Pensions Board. They advised that these remained largely unchanged and the Committee agreed to keep costs down they should only be updated annually.

PIC62- 2016

Medium Term Asset Allocation

To consider the 2nd quarter Medium Term Asset Allocation.

Minutes:

The Committee was advised that the current MTTA mandate which had started on 1 March 2014 had returned 26.5% compared to the benchmark of 27.3% as at 30 June 2016. This had detracted approximately £2.9mcompared to the MTAA benchmark over the 28 month period to 30 June 2016. The current mandate was still running and Aon Hewitt advised that performance should be assessed over the medium term rather than a shorter time. Aon Hewitt remained confident that that the MTAA would add value in the future.

PIC63- 2016

Pension Fund Transaction

To consider a report by the Strategic Director – Resources.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the confidential report of the Strategic Director – Resources.

 

RESOLVED

Reason for Decision

That the report be noted.

To inform the Committee.