Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the PENSION FUND PANEL held at The Castle, Winchester on 8 June 2005.

PRESENT:

Councillors: M.F. Cartwright (Chairman); B.D. Dash; A.G. Dowden;

P.R.C. Hutcheson; A.R. Ludlow; J. Maxwell.

Co-opted members:

Councillor T. Blair (Portsmouth City Council).

Mr E.W. Hughes (pensioners' representative).

Mr D. Offord (contributors' representative).

Independent adviser: Mr H. Cole.

11 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

12 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

No Chairman's communications were received.

13 DEPUTATIONS

No deputations were received.

14 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

15 DRAFT LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME AND MANAGEMENT AND INVESTMENT OF FUNDS (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2005 - UPDATE

The Panel received and noted a report of the County Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on the draft Local Government Pension Scheme and Management and Investment of Funds (Amendment) Regulations 2005. The draft Regulations included proposals to increase the limit on the value of stocks that could be lent by funds in return for commission. In addition, the Regulations required funds to produce a Representation Policy Statement as part of their Statement of Investment Principles and prepare a communications strategy. The Government had subsequently announced that the proposed Regulations had been placed in abeyance to allow time for further consideration after the general election.

The County Treasurer reported that it would not be possible to vet the activities of the counterparties to whom the Hampshire Pension Fund lent stock. The alternative would be to withdraw altogether from stocklending. The Fund had earned £123,000 in 2004/05 from lending stock.

16 STATEMENT OF INVESTMENT PRINCIPLES - REPRESENTATION POLICY STATEMENT

The Panel considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) concerning the proposed requirement that funds include a Representation Policy Statement in their Statement of Investment Principles. Although the Government had placed in abeyance the draft Regulations enforcing this requirement, it was considered that it would be good practice to make the necessary changes to the Statement of Investment Principles now.

The Fund's employee and pensioner representatives had previously had observer rights only at Panel meetings but it was suggested that, with the adoption of the Representation Policy Statement, they should be given full voting rights on the Panel.

RESOLVED:

(i) That the updated Statement of Investment Principles, incorporating the Fund's Representation Policy Statement, be approved.

(ii) That the employee and pensioner representatives be granted full voting rights.

17 TREASURY REVIEW OF THE MYNERS PRINCIPLES

The Panel received and noted a report of the County Treasurer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) concerning a review published in December 2004 by the Treasury of the progress in implementing the Myners principles for institutional decision-making. Whilst considerable progress had been made by pension funds, the Treasury had set out proposals to strengthen trustees' familiarity with investment issues, access to expertise, contractual arrangements with advisers and monitoring of their own performance. The County Treasurer reported the Fund was generally compliant with these requirements but that it was necessary to ensure that training for Panel members was sufficient. It was also important that appropriate advice be taken by the Panel during the forthcoming review of the Fund's management arrangements.

18 MAGISTRATES' COURTS COMMITTEE - STAFF TRANSFER TERMS

The Panel considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 8 in the Minute Book) regarding the terms of a bulk pension transfer for staff moving from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Magistrates' Courts Committee to Her Majesty's Courts Services on 1 April 2005. Agreement had been reached nationally with the Courts Service on proposals developed by the Association of Consulting Actuaries to achieve a clean break which protected the interests of the transferred staff and local government pension funds.

RESOLVED

That the Association of Consulting Actuaries' proposals to protect both staff and Fund be approved.

19 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That, by virtue of paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public were excluded from the meeting for the following items of business.

20 PROPERTY (CONFIDENTIAL)

The Panel considered a confidential report of the County Treasurer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on property issues that had arisen over the last six months. The Panel also received a presentation on the Fund's property portfolio from the property managers Cordea Savills.
[SUMMARY OF A MINUTE WHICH CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION]

21 PENSION FUND CASH POSITION (CONFIDENTIAL)

The Panel considered a confidential report of the County Treasurer (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on the level of the Fund's cash balance and proposals to transfer part of the balance to the fund managers for investment.