Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead

Items
No. Item

41.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received by Cllr Hill, Cllr Brooker and Cllr Rankin.

42.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

Berkshire Pension Fund officers declared an interest in LGPS Investment Pooling due to TUPE implications.

43.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 93 KB

To approve the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 11th April 2016.

Minutes:

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on 11th April 2016 were approved as a true and correct record subject to the following changes:

 

-       Page 10, Pane changed to Panel.

-       Page 11, one employer be changed to one employee.

-       Page 12, in place in, the second in to be deleted.

44.

Composition of the Berkshire Pension Fund Advisory Panel pdf icon PDF 180 KB

To consider the report.

Minutes:

The Chairman informed the Panel that the Pension Panel and Advisory Panel was comprised of:

 

·         The Pension Fund Panel, five RBWM Members (the administering authority).

·         Five representatives from the unitary authorities.

·         Two employer representatives the University of West London and Thames Valley Probation Trust.

·         Two employee representatives; UNISON and GMB.

·         A Pensioner Member and an Active Member representative.

 

As the Thames Valley Probation Trust had been transferred to the Greater Manchester Pension Fund it was an opportunity to review the membership.

 

The Pension Fund Manager informed that it was proposed to change the membership to:

 

The Berkshire Pension Fund Advisory Panel membership shall comprise of:

 

·         The Pension Fund Panel (5 administering authority Members)

·         5 representatives from the unitary authorities (1 each)

·         3 employer representatives namely

o   University of West London

o   An employer with a minimum of 200 members within the Fund

o   A representative from an Academy (to represent all academies within the Fund).

·         2 employee representatives namely

o   UNISON

o   GMB

·         A Pensioner Member and an Active Member representative.

It was also proposed that the term of office for members of the Advisory Panel who are not appointed by a Unitary Authority run alongside the administering authority’s electoral cycle and those members be required to attend at least two meetings per year.  Failure to attend two meetings in a year could result in the Panel requesting  the Advisory Panel member to step down.

Cllr Hilton asked if Advisory Panel members did not meet the attendance criteria would they be automatically excluded or would it be on a case by case judgement.  The Panel agreed  that it would be judged by each case at the discretion of the Berkshire Pension Fund Panel.

Cllr Stanton mention that if cases of non-attendance did arise the Panel should be mindful of special circumstances such as injury or sickness and raised concern that the Advisory Panel’s vote would be lessened by the additional member.  The Pension Fund Manager replied that the Panel could, if it so wished, remove the University of West London as they had not attended Panel meetings recently..

It was noted that the Panel had never voted against the wishes of the Advisory Panel.

Resolved Unanimously: that the Panel recommends to Council that the composition of the Berkshire Pension Fund Advisory Panel be amended to that shown in section 2.6 of the report.

 

 

 

45.

LGPS Investment Pooling - Local Pensions Partnership pdf icon PDF 184 KB

To consider the report.

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report regarding LGPS Pooling and informed that the Government was pushing the drive for mandatory pooling of LGPS investments.  To meet its obligations the report was recommending that a letter of intent be issued to the Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) with the intention of becoming a shareholder in Local Pension Partnership.

 

The Chairman introduced Susan Martin, Chief Executive LPP and Sally Bridgeland, Chair of the LPP Investment Board.

 

The Chairman circulated a list of minimum requirements for Berkshire to join LPP pool and asked the Panel for their comments.  The list was:

 

  1. No compulsory redundancies or forced relocation of staff.  Staff  to be TUPE’d to LPP
  2. Title to Berkshire pooled assets to remain with Berkshire
  3. Custodian of Berkshire cash and other assets to be selected by Berkshire
  4. Berkshire to be shareholder in LPP
  5. Berkshire to have right to appoint a non executive director to the Board of LPP.  Such a person will normally be an elected Councillor of the administrative authority for Berkshire.  (Currently RBWM). Remuneration will be the same as for other non executive directors and such remuneration will be paid to the administrative authority for Berkshire. 
  6. A senior RBWM Officer will be appointed to the Investment Committee of LPP Investments and RBWM approval will be required for the appointment of any successor.
  7. Investment strategy and asset allocation will be set by Berkshire.
  8. The Berkshire Pension Fund Panel may have a mechanism whereby it can select up to 10% of the assets of Berkshire in the pool with the returns being at the risk of Berkshire and within the agreed strategy of Berkshire.  This would have two purposes, first to enable use to invest, usually locally, where we see local opportunities and second to ensure that we have the motivation to monitor what the pool is doing with our money
  9. Berkshire will also bring to the attention of LPP funds in which Berkshire would like to invest although the final investment decision will be for LPP.
  10. Existing investments which are illiquid or uneconomic to transfer to a pool would be managed by LPP for the benefit of Berkshire with, income, profits or losses for the account of Berkshire.

 

The Pension Fund Manager gave an overview of the progress being made towards pooling as discussed at previous meetings and that in response to ongoing discussions with the DCLG there had so far been no response to the request for confirmation that  the LPP would be an authorised Pool.

 

As well as ongoing discussions with the LPP there had also been contact with the Border to Coast Pool but they had said we could join but only on their terms.

 

The Chairman reported that the biggest loss when we pool would be the local administration and a limited ability to select our own investments.  He would be requesting that 10% of the Berkshire fund be made available for investment under Berkshire control and informed that the title of assets would remain with the Berkshire Pension Fund,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

46.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public

be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place

on item 9 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt

information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local

Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

47.

Minutes

To approve the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 11th April 2016.

48.

Action Tracking

To note the report.