Agenda item

The Investment and Accounting Team Lead to present a report on the Fund quarterly responsible investment performance.

Chris Moore, Investment and Accounting Team Lead presented a report on the Fund quarterly responsible investment performance. The presentation covered the following points including but not limited to the progress against the actions in the Responsible Investment Plan 2023/24 with a significant amount of progress made, with only one piece of outstanding work, which was the implementation of the Clops portfolio.

It was outlined that a significant number of reports had been produced in 23/24 Q4, including the Affordable Housing Impact Report and Responsible Investment and Stewardship report and Spotlight on Social report, with summaries included and it noted that the best place to view these reports was on the Wiltshire Pension Fund website.

The fund had many achievements across the year including that the COP28 campaign including an informative factsheet was read by circa 13,000 people, the fund had received several awards relating to responsible investment and had also been invited to speak at multiple conferences.

A progress update on the implementation of the Clops portfolio was provided, with it noted that regarding the local infrastructure asset class, out of the £100m allocated to Wessex Gardens, £70m had already been drawn into a solar portfolio and that regarding listed equities, a manager had been selected pending subscription. Regarding listed/private debt, the Fund had appointed NinetyOne as the investment manager. Additionally, £10m had been allocated to World Fund who will invest in start-up companies who have the potential to deliver material carbon reduction. Detail was also provided regarding the nature-based allocation and that a selection process would start once the investment advisor procurement process was completed.

Reference was made to the delivery of the Younger Members Focus Group, which had been set up as part of the RI plan to engage younger members following the youth pensions survey undertaken previously, however low levels of interest had been received, therefore consideration was taking place regarding how the fund could engage with younger members in another way.

The Committee discussed the presentation, with reference made to whether the Fund had considered communication from the perspective of the younger members, to which it was noted that the Focus Group had the aim of engaging with members and that the approach taken by the Fund needed to reflect what younger members needed or wanted.

Further clarity was provided regarding the progress on the implementation of the Clops investments and why they have taken slightly longer. The main reason being the team having less capacity due to vacancies meaning fund selection could not take place concurrently. Officers outlined that since summer last year, the team had been actively trying to recruit to fill a senior role and had advertised in many ways using market supplements. Since then, the team had found an Investment Analyst with a good background of experience, who was set to join the Fund on 4 July. It was also covered that resilience work had been done with the accounting team to improve career progression as well as setting up an apprenticeship programme for accountants. It was also outlined that the nature-based allocation was the final part of implementing the Clops portfolio and that once the investment advisor procurement process had been completed making an allocation to nature would be an initial priority.

The notion of local inward investment was discussed, with it outlined that managers had a UK wide remit and hadn’t been directed to have a specific amount of allocation in Wiltshire, however this was a concept which was becoming more prevalent and could be considered by the Fund in the future, with a possible workshop set to take place once the new advisor was in place. It was also suggested that some Members of the scheme didn’t live locally therefore there might be concern about compromising investment opportunities with such an approach, therefore requiring consideration of what would be defined as “local”.

At the conclusion of debate, it was,

Resolved:

The Committee agreed to use the report as a basis for monitoring the progress that is being made towards implementing responsible investment policy.