Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the PENSION FUND PANEL held at The Castle, Winchester on Friday 2 May 2008.

Chairman:

p Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE

Vice Chairman:

p Councillor M.F. Cartwright

Councillors:

p F.G. Allgood p M.N. Kemp-Gee

p B.D. Dash a A.R. Ludlow

p A.G. Dowden p J.J.W. Maxwell

p P.R.C. Hutcheson

Co-opted members:

p Councillor I.R. Carr (Test Valley Borough Council)

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

a Mr P. Reynolds (employee representative)

Independent adviser:

p Mr H. Cole.

190 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

    Councillor A.R. Ludlow and Mr P. Reynolds gave their apologies. Councillor T.K. Thornber left the meeting after item 12 on the Agenda to attend to other County Council business. Councillor M.F. Cartwright took the chair for the presentations from the Fund's investment managers.

191 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.

    Councillor M.F. Cartwright declared a personal interest in connection with the report on Property (Minute 201 below refers) as one of the representatives of the Fund's property manager CB Richard Ellis was a neighbour. As no decisions by the Panel were required concerning CB Richard Ellis, and with the agreement of the Panel, Councillor M.F. Cartwright took part in the discussion of the report on Property and chaired the meeting during the presentation by CB Richard Ellis.

192 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

    No Chairman's communications were received.

193 DEPUTATIONS

    No deputations were received.

194 MINUTES

    The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

195 PENSION FUND PANEL REPRESENTATIVES AND THE TIMETABLE FOR MEETINGS WITH FUND MANAGERS

    The Panel considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) regarding the nomination of Councillor D. Harryman by Southampton City Council to replace Councillor J. Moulton as the representative of the two unitary authorities on the Pension Fund Panel. The County Treasurer reported at the meeting that Councillor D. Harryman had not been re-elected to Southampton City Council in the elections held on the day before the Panel's meeting. As a result, he was not able to take up his place on the Panel.

    The County Treasurer also reported that Julie Murdoch had been nominated by the unions as the deputy for the employee representative. Training will be made available to the new Panel members.

    The Panel considered a request from Southampton City Council that the existing arrangement for alternating the single representative on the Pension Fund Panel of the two unitary authorities between the authorities every two years should be replaced by two representatives, one for each authority. This, it was suggested, would better reflect the relative size of the unitary authorities and provide better continuity of representation. The Panel noted, however, that the County Council as administering authority should have a higher proportion of members on the Panel. The Panel would become very cumbersome if the number of members increased, particularly if agreeing this request led to requests for additional members to represent other employers and employees.

    The Panel also reviewed the frequency of its meetings with the fund managers and the proposed timetable for 2008.

    RESOLVED:

    (a) That no change be made to the existing arrangements for the representation of unitary authorities on the Pension Fund Panel.

    (b) That the appointment of Julie Murdoch as the deputy for the employee representative on the Pension Fund Panel be accepted.

    (c) That the proposals for the Pension Fund Panel's meetings with the fund managers in 2008 be confirmed and that meetings with the Fund's custodian Northern Trust and actuary Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow should not be added to the timetable.

    (d) That the remainder of the report be noted.

196 INVESTMENT MANAGERS - PERSONNEL AND OTHER CHANGES

    The Panel received and noted a report of the County Treasurer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) summarising personnel changes at Newton and Aberdeen, and AllianceBernstein's decision to close their Global Strategic Value product to new business. The Panel also considered developments at Société Générale following losses as a result of `rogue trading'. The Fund's investment manager, SGAM, had advised that these difficulties at SGAM's parent company were not expected to affect them directly.

197 REVIEW OF THE HAMPSHIRE PENSION FUND'S INVESTMENT LIMITS

    The Panel considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the statutory investment limits for the Fund. Regulations allowed the Panel to increase these limits, subject to conditions. In response to a letter from the County Treasurer in February 2008, Panel members had agreed to increase the limit on all contributions to partnerships from 5% of the Fund to 10%, which was within the maximum allowed by the Regulations of 15%. None of the other investment limits had been increased. The County Treasurer also reported that the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy was carrying out a survey of views on the impact of the investment limits. The results of the survey will be reported to the Panel in due course.

    RESOLVED:

    (a) That the increase in the limit on contributions to partnerships be increased from 5% to 10% be confirmed.

    (b) That the remainder of the report be noted.

198 ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL BACKGROUND

    The Panel received and noted a report of the Panel's adviser Mr Harvey Cole (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the economic and financial background.

199 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

    RESOLVED:

    That the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during those items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the reports.

200 INVESTMENT MATTERS - UPDATE (EXEMPT)

    The Panel considered an exempt report of the County Treasurer (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on the recent performance of the Fund's investment managers.
    [SUMMARY OF A MINUTE WHICH CONTAINS EXEMPT INFORMATION]

201 PROPERTY - UPDATE (EXEMPT)

    The Panel considered an exempt report of the County Treasurer (Item 12 in the Minute Book) giving an update on the Fund's property portfolios.
    [SUMMARY OF A MINUTE WHICH CONTAINS EXEMPT INFORMATION]

i:\ . . . . \ian\docs\PFP 2008 2May08 mins.doc 23 May 2008