Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the PENSION FUND PANEL held at The Castle, Winchester on Wednesday 8 July 2009.

Chairman:

p Councillor M.N. Kemp-Gee

Councillors:

a F.G. Allgood a D.A. Kirk

p C. Carter p B. Tennent

p B.D. Dash p T. Thacker

p A.G. Dowden a T.K. Thornber, CBE

Co-opted members:

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

p Councillor D. Jones (Portsmouth City Council)

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

p Mr P. Reynolds (employee representative)

Independent adviser:

p Mr H. Cole

1 APOLOGIES

      Councillors F.G. Allgood, D.A. Kirk, T.K. Thornber and I.R. Carr gave their apologies.

2 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.

3 MINUTES

      The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2009 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

4 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

      There were no communications.

5 PENSION FUND REPRESENTATIVES

      The Panel considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) regarding the co-opted membership of the Pension Fund Panel of representatives of the Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils, the Hampshire District Councils, pensioners and employees. The Panel considered arrangements for selecting the independent adviser to the Pension Fund Panel. It also considered nominations for an informal sub-group of Panel members to take urgent decisions on investment matters. Five members were nominated for the sub-group with a sixth to be nominated following discussions with members of the Panel not present at this meeting.

      RESOLVED:

      (a) That the appointments of Councillors Ian Carr and Peter Giddings as representative and deputy representative on the Pension Fund Panel of the Hampshire district councils be extended until 31 July 2013, at which point the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Government Association be invited to consider renewing their nominations.

      (b) That the appointment of Mr EW Hughes as the pensioners' representative continue on an annual rolling basis, expiring each 31 March.

      (c) That the nomination by the trade unions of Brian Wood as the deputy employee representative be accepted and that he be appointed until 31 July 2013.

      (d) That the appointments of Phillip Reynolds as the employee representative be extended until 31 July 2013.

      (e) That applications be invited for the position of independent adviser to the Pension Fund Panel and, in the meantime, the appointment of Mr H. Cole as independent adviser be extended on the existing terms.

      (f) That the Councillors M.N. Kemp-Gee, T.K. Thornber and B.D. Dash and Messrs E.W. Hughes and H Cole be nominated to an informal sub-group of the Pension Fund Panel on investments to take urgent decisions on investment matters affecting the Pension Fund.

      (g) That one further member of the Pension Fund Panel be nominated to the informal sub-group on investments at the next meeting of the Panel on 21 July 2009.

6 TRAINING AND INDUCTION BRIEFING FOR PANEL MEMBERS

      The Panel considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) regarding arrangements for Pension Fund Panel to obtain training on pension fund matters. It also included a briefing on the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Pension Fund's investment arrangements with new members of the Panel in mind.

      RESOLVED:

    (a) That the County Treasurer arrange for bespoke training sessions for the Panel over one or two days in autumn 2009 in Winchester, using fund managers and the actuary.

    (b) That members of the Panel notify the County Treasurer of any specific issues they wished to see covered by these training sessions.

    (c) That a detailed training plan for the Panel be prepared and individual training logs be maintained for individual Panel members.

7 ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL BACKGROUND

      The Panel considered a report of the Panel's independent adviser Mr Harvey Cole (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on the economic and financial background.

      RESOLVED:

      That the Panel notes the independent adviser's comments and uses them as background to discussions with the investment managers.

8 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

      RESOLVED:

      That the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item 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 report.

9 UPDATE ON INVESTMENT MATTERS (EXEMPT)

      The Panel received an update from the County Treasurer on investment matters (Item 9 in the Minute Book).
      [SUMMARY OF A MINUTE WHICH CONTAINS EXEMPT INFORMATION]