Agenda and minutes

Apologies have been received from Cllr Roy While, Cllr Gordon King, Mike Pankiewicz and Cllr Brian Ford.

Cllr Brian Ford is substituted by Cllr Robert Jandy.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Roy While.

To consider the Part 1 (public) minutes of the meeting held on held on 5  June 2019.

Resolution:

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2019 were approved.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements through the Chairman.

The Chair announced the sad news that Cllr Roy While had retired due to ill health and reminded committee of the long standing contribution Cllr While had made to pensions and the wider local authority throughout his career.

The Chair expressed his concern at staff churn from Mercer and requested a meeting with Joanna Holden.

Kieran Harkin of Mercer was welcomed to the committee and was invited to outline his extensive experience working with numerous LGPS across England and Wales.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named above for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named above (acting on behalf of the Corporate Director), no later than 5pm on xxx  in order to be guaranteed a written response prior to the meeting. Any question received between the above deadline, and no later than 5pm two clear working days before the meeting, may only receive a verbal response at the meeting.

Please contact the officer named on the first page of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

Jane Laurie, retired member of the Wiltshire Pension Fund, had submitted three written questions and had received written responses.   At the invitation of the chair the following supplementary questions were asked:

1.         What is the timetable for action?

2.         How is threat of divestment deployed in your investment strategy of engagement with fund managers?

3.         What steps are being taken to consult active and retired members on responsible investment?

The Chair emphasised there was no end-point for action, rather there was a rate of acceleration and that ESG was a key aspect of due diligence prior to investment.  

The following additional points were made; the priority is to balance assets with liabilities through returns, in the long-term good governance delivers sustained returns and the committee is open to engagement from the public on this issue.

Dave Willers gave examples on engagement with firms from pension funds that had fostered change of policy and priorities.  Anthony Fletcher advised that divestment was central to influencing firms and fund managers but reminded the meeting that once you divest, you have no influence at all whilst others step in who may or may not be seeking engagement on ESG.

The next ordinary meeting of the Sub-Committee will be held on 28 November 2019.

The date of the next meeting was to be 28 November 2019.

Any other items of business which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be considered as a matter of urgency. Urgent items of a confidential nature may be considered under Part II of this agenda.

There were no urgent items.

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Numbers 12 – 16 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

It was,

Resolved:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Item Numbers 12 – 16 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

To receive a presentation and update from Magellan.

The committee received a confidential presentation on Magellan’s procedures.

To receive a quarterly update on investments from the Investment Manager.

The committee received a confidential report on 40      Investment Quarterly Progress and it was;

RESOLVED

To recommend to Wiltshire Pension Committee to:

-       To note the two investment reports and the update provided by officers and advisers at the meeting;• to approve increasing the allocation to Magellan up to 8% of the total value of the Fund, less the value of the Partners Group portfolios, to be funded from the disinvestment from the Loomis Sayles Absolute Return bond fund;

-       To increase the allocation to global property to 35% of the total property portfolio;

-       To implement the disinvestment from Barings diversified growth fund by making a series of 5-6 equal sized monthly redemptions, and invest the proceeds in index inked gilts;

-       To approve that the increase in protection assets is actioned by creating a new allocation to secured income of 10% of the total fund value, and that this is held in index linked gilts (from the proceeds of the Barings disinvestment) in the interim until this can be deployed.

To receive a report from the Investment Manager on investment data.

The committee received a confidential report on the fund’s investment performance data and it was;

RESOLVED

The committee noted the report.

To receive a report updating committee on Accounting.

The committee received a confidential accounting update and it was;

RESOLVED

The committee noted the report.

To receive a report updating committee on Responsible Investing.

The committee received a confidential report on responsible investing and it was;

RESOLVED

To recommend to Wiltshire Pension committee that:

-       The spending of £13,000 on the research into carbon footprint be approved;

-        

-       The Wiltshire Pension Fund sign up to support the Transition Pathway Initiative.

To receive a report from Mercers.

The committee received a confidential report on Mercer’s performance and it was;

RESOLVED

The committee noted the report.

To receive a presentation from Brunel Pensions Partnership.

The committee received a confidential presentation on x' Brunel’s investment decisions.

Discussion of Brunel’s presentation with a resolution to either proceed with the property transition or to proceed subject to further work.

The committee discussion on property transition and it was:

RESOLVED

To recommend to Wiltshire Pension committee that:

-       To begin the process of data sharing information on the property portfolios with Brunel, and to seek more assurance on the documentation and ability of Brunel to manage the first transitions before reassessing whether to go ahead with transitioning Wiltshire’s property funds to Brunel;

-       To instruct CBRE to notify Wiltshire officers before making any commitments to closed-ended funds.

To confirm the Part 2 (confidential) minutes of the meeting held on….

RESOLVED

To recommend to Wiltshire Pension committee that:

The part 2 minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2019 were approved.