Venue: MS Teams with Outside Broadcasting
Contact: David Northover Email: d.r.northover@dorsetcc.gov.uk
No. | Item |
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Welcome and Statement from the Chairman Minutes: The
Chairman welcomed Committee members and others, and made the following
statement: “In
the light of the increasing Covid-19 case rates and projected increases, in
consultation with group leaders, Dorset Council’s Chief Executive has exercised
his emergency powers to revert to informal virtual meetings. This has since been compounded by the need to be
able to webcast meetings that take place ‘in person’ - which is not readily available
at this time - so it has been decided for now to maintain virtual meetings. Where
a decision is required, committee members will express a ‘minded to’ decision
in respect of recommendations set out in officer reports, with decisions being
made under officer delegated authority in the light of ‘minded to decisions’
expressed by members in the virtual meetings Accordingly,
this meeting has those arrangements in place.” |
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Apologies To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Jim McManus, Corporate Director - Finance
and Commercial. |
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Declarations of Interest To disclose any pecuniary,
other registrable or personal interest as set out in the adopted Code of
Conduct. In making their decision
councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and
any action they propose to take as part of their declaration. If required, further advice
should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting. Minutes: No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting. |
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To receive and note the minutes of the meeting held on 8 September 2021. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 8
September 2021 were confirmed by the Chairman. |
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Public Participation To receive questions or statements on the business of the
committee from town and parish councils and members of the public. Minutes: There were no questions or statements from members of the public, nor from Town and Parish Councils at the meeting: |
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Questions from Members To receive questions or statements on the business of the
committee from Dorset Council elected members. Minutes: There were no questions from Members. |
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Urgent items To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had
prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of
the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in
the minutes. Minutes: There were no urgent items. |
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Pensions Administration Report PDF 97 KB To consider the quarterly report on pension
fund administration. Minutes: The Committee
considered a report from officers on operational and administration matters
relating to the pension fund. Implementation of
the new systems had generally progressed well but there were still some
significant outstanding issues including the calculation of annual
allowances. Key Performance Indicators
(KPI) reporting was also a ‘work-in-progress’ and needed further development. Staff retention had
historically been high but the administration team had
lost a significant number of experienced staff in the last year. Home working meant that staff could move to
better paid employment, such as with the London boroughs, without the need to
relocate. Skilled and knowledgeable pensions administration staff were at a
premium nationally, as was the case in many sectors. Officers were
working with Human Resources (HR) colleagues to identify what could be done to
improve retention and recruitment. Use
of the Council’s apprenticeship scheme could be considered as a way of
developing staff internally, but qualifications would need to be supplemented
by experience. Cllr John Beesley,
in his capacity as a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
Scheme Advisory Board (SAB), offered to feedback to SAB anything practical that
might be of help to pensions administrations teams. Noted |
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Independent investment Adviser's Report PDF 307 KB To consider the quarterly report of the pension fund’s independent investment adviser on the outlook for the pension fund’s investments Minutes: The Committee
considered a report from Alan Saunders, the pension fund’s Independent
Investment Adviser, that gave his views on the economic background to the
pension fund’s investments, the outlook for different asset classes and key
market risks. Inflation continued
to be a concern. Staff shortages and a
big squeeze on real incomes could lead to a ‘wage-price’ spiral which in turn
could lead to slower growth. The Bank of England
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had not raised Bank Rate at its most recent
meeting in November 2021, but Bank Rate was widely expected to reach 1% by the
end of 2022. In the US the Federal
Reserve had begun to taper its programme of quantitative easing. This was the last
report from Mr Saunders before retirement from the role after 17 years and the
Chairman thanked him on behalf of the Committee for his valued advice over this
period. Noted |
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Fund Administrator's Report PDF 215 KB To consider the quarterly report on the funding position,
the value and performance of investments and other related issues. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee
considered a report from officers on the pension fund’s funding position, asset
valuation, investment performance and asset allocation as at 30 September 2021. The value of the
pension fund’s assets ended the quarter at £3.6 billion compared to £3.3
billion at the start of the financial year, with 63% of those assets now under
the management of Brunel Pension Partnership. Target allocations
for private market assets remained a challenge and it was therefore agreed to
make commitments to Brunel’s cycle three private markets’ portfolios for
Private Equity and Infrastructure, provisionally for £60M to each with final
commitments confirmed March 2022. A new
allocation to Private Debt was not proposed at this stage. The funding
position estimated by the actuary was that the value of the pension fund’s
assets covered 88% of the present value of liabilities. The investment
return for the quarter was 2.5% compared to the combined benchmark return of
2.4%. Approximately 30% of the pension
fund’s liabilities were hedged against inflation sensitivity using just under
12% of assets to do so. James Russell-Stracey, Brunel Pension Partnership, updated the Committee
on matters arising from Conference of the Parties (COP) 26, the newly launched
low reduced carbon emissions passive equities funds, and the forthcoming
‘stocktake’ of Brunel’s approach to decarbonisation. Cllr John Beesley,
the pension fund’s representative on the Brunel Oversight Board, updated the
Committee on governance matters relating to the investment pooling partnership. Resolved ii.
That commitments are made provisionally to Brunel’s
cycle three private markets’ portfolios for Private Equity (£60M) and
Infrastructure (£60M). |
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Pension Fund Annual Report PDF 86 KB To approve for
publication the Pension Fund Annual Report for 2020/21. Additional documents: Minutes: LGPS regulations
require all administering authorities to publish an annual report on the
activities of its pension fund. The report of the
independent auditor regarding the financial statements had not been received
but it would be circulated to members of the Committee when received. Resolved i.
That the
annual report is published as is, with a delegation to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman
to approve the final version if no substantive matters are raised in the
auditor’s report. ii.
That the auditor’s report is circulated to all
Committee members when received |
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Dates of Future Meetings To confirm the dates for the meetings of the Committee in 2021/22: ·
10am
Thursday 10 March 2022 – London (tbc) Minutes: Resolved That the next meeting
be held on the following date: 10am
Tuesday 10 March 2022 – London (tbc) |
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Exempt Business To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following items
in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph
3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the
item of business is considered. Minutes: Exclusion of the Public Resolved That under Section
100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the
meeting for the business specified in minute 14 because it was likely that if
members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt
information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the
public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in
disclosing that information. |
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Federated Hermes Investment Update To consider a presentation from Federated Hermes, one of the pension fund’s infrastructure investment managers Minutes: The Committee
received a presentation from Federated Hermes, one of the pension fund’s
infrastructure investments manager.
Federated Hermes gave an update on performance to date and the outlook
for the future. Performance to date had
been disappointing and the Committee remained concerned about the outlook for
the future. Resolved That performance is monitored closely over the
coming quarters with a formal review of the mandate at the meeting of the
Committee in November 2022. |
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Independent Investment Advice Update To receive an update on the procurement process to appoint
an independent investments advice provider. Minutes: The Committee received an update from officers on the procurement
exercise to appoint a provider of independent investment advice. Noted |