Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2024 were confirmed and signed.

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.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to Joshua.kennedy@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 08:00am on Thursday 20 June 2024.

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that:

·       You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

·       A question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

·       It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

·       Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

·       When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder). 

·       Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.

·       Questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. 

·       All questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

No questions or statements from members of the public were made at the meeting.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total. Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

The submissions must be emailed in full to Joshua.kennedy@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 08:30am on Thursday 20 June 2024.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

No questions or statements from Councillors were made at the meeting.

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.

No urgent items were raised at the meeting.

To consider the quarterly report on the value and performance of the pension fund’s investments.

The value of the pension fund’s assets at 31 March 2024 was £3.9 billion, compared to £3.5 billion at 1 April 2023.  As at 31 March 2024, approximately 83% of the fund’s assets were under the management of Brunel.

The total return from the pension fund’s investments over the quarter to 31 March 2024 was 4.9% matching the combined benchmark return.  The total return for the year to 31 March 2024 was 11.4% compared to the benchmark return of 12.5%. Annualised returns for three years were 5.4% compared to the benchmark return of 6.8%, and for five years were 5.5% compared to the benchmark of 6.2%. The discount rate used by the actuary at the last triennial valuation was 4.9% per annum.

The quarter to 31 March 2024 saw falls in inflation at a slower pace than anticipated, which in turn led to expectations that interest rates would fall more slowly than had been expected in the previous quarter to the end of 2023.  Most markets remained positive as economic indicators were generally more positive. The investment environment for Brunel had been more favourable compared to 2022, and a large part of 2023. 

The majority of the Brunel portfolios that the pension fund was invested in outperformed their benchmarks for the quarter, and those that didn’t were only marginally behind their benchmarks.  The emerging market portfolio had underperformed its benchmark since inception, largely attributed to the application of Brunel’s responsible investment policy but also to some poor stock selection by underlying investment managers.  Any changes to key personnel at underlying investment managers were subject to immediate review by Brunel.

To receive a verbal update from Cllr John Beesley in his capacity as the Committee’s representative on the Brunel Oversight Board and as a member of the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Cllr John Beesley, the pension fund’s representative on the Brunel Oversight Board (BOB), and also a member of the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board (SAB), updated the Committee on governance matters relating to investment pooling. 

Sally Bridgeland joined Brunel’s Board as Deputy Chair on 1 May and is due to formally take over as Chair on 1 October 2024.  Laura Chappell, Brunel’s Chief Executive, is expected to attend the next meeting of the Committee in September.

There had been discussions at BOB and SAB about how to respond to the government’s ambitions for consolidation of LGPS investment pools, and possibly also LGPS funds, and for greater investment from pension funds in the United Kingdom.  These ambitions were not expected to change regardless of the results of the general election. 

SAB continued to spend a great deal of time on the McCloud remedy and other administrative issues.

To consider the quarterly report on pension fund administration.

Performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) continued to be good.

The problems and delays with the software delivery required for the implementation of the McCloud remedy had continued. The software provider attended the last Local Pension Board meeting and is expected to attend the next meeting. Progress and the impact of delays on the pension fund had been monitored.

Work had been underway to migrate the pensions payroll to the pensions administration system. The software provider, pension fund and other Council officers were discussing how to address issues regarding extraction of data from SAP, the Council’s main finance system. Parallel payment runs are expected to commence from January 2025 and the go-live date is expected to be April 2025.

There had been an increase in the number of financial penalties issued to scheme employers, primarily due to missing data required for end of year processes. Outsourced payroll providers of schools had been a particular problem in submitting the relevant information on time. Monthly meetings had been set up with one payroll provider where concerns were discussed.

Pension fund officers had contributed to the Scheme Advisory Board’s working group for the gender pensions gap.

To confirm the dates for the meetings of the Committee in 2024/25:

1.30 pm Tuesday 17 September 2024 - County Hall, Dorchester.

1.30 pm Tuesday 26 November 2024 - County Hall, Dorchester.

1.30 pm Tuesday 18 March 2025 - County Hall, Dorchester.

All meetings to be preceded by training for committee members 10am to 12.45pm.

1.30 pm Tuesday 17 September 2024 - County Hall, Dorchester.

1.30 pm Tuesday 26 November 2024 - County Hall, Dorchester.

1.30 pm Tuesday 18 March 2025 - County Hall, Dorchester.

All meetings to be preceded by training for committee members 10am to 12.45pm.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item 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.

There is no exempt business scheduled for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.