Return to AgendaITEM PF5
pension fund committee
MINUTES of the meeting held on 21 February 2008 commencing at 10.15 am and finishing at 1.13 pm
Present:
Voting Members: Councillor David Harvey - in the chair Councillor Tony CrabbeCouncillor Jean Fooks Councillor Neville Harris Councillor Dermot Roaf Councillor Bill Service
Michael Howes Bob Price
By Invitation: Mr A Bushell (Independent Financial Adviser) Mr P Harris (UBS) Ms V Higley (UBS) Mr R Sloan (UBS) Mr G Blunden (Alliance Bernstein) Mr P Rudden (Alliance Bernstein
Officers:
Whole of meeting: Mr S Collins and Mrs S Fox (Shared Services), Mr P Gerrish, Mr T Wheeler and Ms M Holyman (Corporate Core)
The Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda and reports, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.
1/08 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
An apology for absence was received from Councillor Jelf.
The Chairman reported that this was Councillor Howes’s last meeting. He thanked him, on behalf of the Committee, for his work on the Committee. He welcomed Councillors Fooks and Roaf to the Committee.
The Chairman reported that former Councillor Jim Moley had died recently. He said, on behalf of the Committee, that Jim Moley would be missed by the Committee for his contribution to the work of the Committee.
2/08 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillors Fooks, Harvey, Price (co-opted member) and Service declared personal interests as members of the Pension Fund Scheme under the provisions of Section 18 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
3/08 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 December 2007 were approved and signed.
On Minute 74/07, the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer reported that the County Council had been advised that the amending regulations, which had been anticipated, would not now be issued. She also reported that she hoped to provide the information requested to the May meeting of the Committee.
4/08 OVERVIEW OF PAST AND CURRENT INVESTMENT POSITION (Agenda Item 5)
The Committee was advised that Tables 1 to 7 had been compiled from the custodian's records (the Pension Fund's prime record keeper). In his records, he had accrued for dividends and recoverable overseas tax within his valuation figures and might also have used different exchange rates and pricing sources compared with the fund managers. In addition, the Committee was advised that the custodian had treated dividend scrip issues as purchases which the fund managers might not have done. This might mean that there were minor differences between the tabled figures and those supplied by the managers.
The Independent Financial Adviser reviewed the investment activity during the past quarter and presented an overview of the Fund’s position as at 31 December 2007.
On Table 1, he reported that, since the information had been compiled, the value of the pension fund portfolio had fallen by ½% to £1,004b.
RESOLVED: to receive the tables, and that the information contained in them be borne in mind, insofar as they relate to items 7E, 8E and 9E on the agenda.
5/08 EXEMPT ITEMS
RESOLVED: that the public be excluded for the duration of items 6E-13E in the Agenda since it is likely that if they were present during those items there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified in relation to the respective items in the Agenda and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of each case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
ITEMS FOLLOWING THE EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC
6/08 OVERVIEW AND OUTLOOK FOR INVESTMENT MARKETS (Agenda Item 6E)
The Committee considered a report (PF6E) which set out an overview of the current and future investment scene and market developments across various regions and sectors. The Independent Financial Adviser updated the Committee orally at the meeting. Members asked questions.
RESOLVED: to receive the report and tables, to receive the oral report, to consider any further action arising on them and to bear the Independent Financial Adviser’s conclusions in mind when considering the Fund Managers’ reports.
7/08 REPORT OF MAIN ISSUES ARISING FROM REPORTS OF THE FUND MANAGERS NOT REPRESENTED AT THIS MEETING (Agenda Item 7E)
The Independent Financial Adviser reported orally on the main issues arising from the reports from Baillie Gifford and Legal & General in conjunction with information contained in the tables (Agenda Item 5). He said that Baillie Gifford’s performance had improved this quarter and Legal & General’s performance had been in line with the benchmark.
RESOLVED: to note the main issues arising from the reports.
8/08 UBS GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT (Agenda Item 8E)
The representatives (Mr P Harris, Ms V Higley and Mr R Sloan) of the Fund Manager reported and reviewed the present investments of their part of the Fund and their strategy against the background of the current investment scene for the period which ended on 31 December 2007 and gave their views on the future investment scene. Councillor Harvey asked whether the performance target for the TAA fund remained realistic following the disappointing performance record to date. Mr Harris said that he still believed the target was achievable. Members asked questions
RESOLVED: to receive UBS Global Asset Management’s quarterly valuation and presentation reports for the quarter ending 31 December 2007.
9/08 ALLIANCE BERNSTEIN (Agenda Item 9E)
The representatives (Mr G Blunden and Mr P Rudden) of the Fund Manager reported and reviewed the present investments of their part of the Fund and their strategy against the background of the current investment scene for the period which ended on 31 December 2007 and gave their views on the future investment scene. Members asked questions.
RESOLVED: to receive Alliance Bernstein’s quarterly valuation and presentation reports for the quarter ending 31 December 2007.
10/08 SUMMARY BY THE INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVISER (Agenda Item 10E)
The Independent Financial Adviser said that he had nothing to add to his comments made earlier in the meeting.
11/08 UPDATE ON THE TRANSFER OF THE UBS UK EQUITY AND BOND PORTFOLIOS (Agenda Item 11E)
The Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer updated the Committee on the transfer of the holdings. Since the Council did not currently have a contract with a company managing an index tracker portfolio, she had been advised that it was necessary to comply with the Council’s contract procedure rules and national procurement rules. As it was likely that it would take time to transfer the funds, an exemption to the rules had been sought to enable the portfolio to be transferred in the short-term to Legal & General. The exemption had been granted on 6 February 2008.
RESOLVED: to ask the Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer to report to the meeting of the Committee in May on the contract/procurement rules and regulations with which the Committee has to comply.
12/08 INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVISER’S FEES (Agenda Item 12E)
The Committee considered a report (PF12E) advising it that, at the December Pension Fund Committee Meeting, the Independent Financial Adviser's basic fee had been misquoted.
RESOLVED: to note the correction set out in paragraph 3 of the report.
(The Independent Financial Adviser left the room for this item.)
13/08 REVISED REMUNERATION ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVISER (Agenda Item 13E)
The Committee considered a report (PF13E) which discussed revised remuneration arrangements for the Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), following criticism by the County Solicitor that ex gratia payments to the IFA were agreed after rather than before any additional tasks had been undertaken.
RESOLVED: to agree the revised fee arrangements set out in the report.
(The Independent Financial Adviser left the room for this item.)
ITEMS FOLLOWING THE RE-ADMISSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC
14/08 OXFORDSHIRE PENSION FUND BUSINESS PLAN AND BUDGET FOR 2008/09 (Agenda Item 14)
The Committee considered a report (PF14) which set out the annual business plan for 2008/09 financial year and also included a member training programme and an investment management/scheme administration budget.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) approve the Oxfordshire Pension Fund Business Plan for 2008/09, as set out in Annex 1 to the report;
(b) approve the Oxfordshire Pension Fund’s Investment Management and Scheme Administration Budget for 2008/09, as set out in Annex 2 to the report.
15/08 GOVERNANCE COMPLIANCE STATEMENT AND FUNDING STRATEGY STATEMENT (Agenda Item 15)
The Committee was advised that, under the latest Regulations, each Administering Authority had to publish annually a Governance Compliance Statement which set out how its governance arrangements compared to a set of best practice guidelines. The Committee considered a report (PF15) which presented the first annual Governance Compliance Statement for the approval of the Committee. The report also highlighted that, following a brief review of the Authority’s current Funding Strategy Statement, no changes to the statement were currently proposed.
RESOLVED: to
(a) agree the Governance Policy Statement, and the Governance Compliance Statement as presented at Annex 1 and Annex 2 to the report and approve the Statements to be published under Regulation 73A of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997;
(b) note that no changes were currently proposed to the existing Funding Strategy Statement, as contained at Annex 3 to the report;
(c) ask the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer to report to the May Committee meeting on:
(i) the possible inclusion of additional members to represent other large contributing bodies for example Oxford Brookes University and status of the “beneficiaries observer” on the Committee;
(ii) any changes to the current draft regulations;
(d) ask that the governance policy be made readily available on the internet site as soon as possible.
16/08 VALUATION UPDATE (Agenda Item 16)
The Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer reported orally that the Actuary’s triennial valuation had been delayed due to delays in receiving the final regulations for the New Look Scheme and to some administration issues.
RESOLVED: to note the position.
17/08 ADMISSION AGREEMENTS (Agenda Item 17)
The Committee considered a report (PF17) which updated them on admissions and considered a consultation paper on Admission Body Status.
RESOLVED: to
(a) note the report in respect of previous applications;
(b) make no comments on the content of the Admission Body Status Consultation; and
(c) delegate to the Assistant Head of Finance (Shared Services) the responsibility to make a response, on behalf of the Oxfordshire Pension Fund, once full consideration has been given to the cost implications within the consultation paper, subject to requesting that the response to be sent on behalf of the Pension Fund be in the best interests of the Fund.
18/08 WRITE OFF’S (Agenda Item 18)
The Committee was advised that, in November 2007, a change had been made to the Scheme of Financial Delegations to allow write off’s, under £7,500, chargeable to the pension fund, to be approved by the Assistant Head of Finance (Shared Services) acting as Director and the Assistant Head of Finance (Corporate Finance) acting as Section 151 Officer. Under the Scheme of Financial Delegation, such write off’s needed to be reported to this Committee for information.
For debts between £7,500 and £10,000 chargeable to the pension fund, approval would need to be sought from the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer. These write off’s would also need to be reported to this Committee for information.
Debts in excess of £10,000 would require the approval of the Pension Fund Committee.
The Committee was advised that the Assistant Heads of Finance (Shared Services) and (Corporate Finance) had approved the write off of £1,016.09, chargeable to the pension fund, in respect of six cases. In response to a question, the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer reported that delays by the people administering the estates in notifying the Council of the deaths in these cases had resulted in the overpayment of pensions.
RESOLVED: to note the report.
19/08 ANNUAL PENSION FORUM (Agenda Item 19)
(a) The Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer reported that there were no issues to report arising from the Pension Forum held on 4 December 2007.
RESOLVED: to note the report.
(b) On the 2008 Annual Pension Forum, the Committee:
RESOLVED: to agree the next Forum would be held on Friday 5 December 2008 at 10.30 am at Chiltern House, Oxford.
20/08 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT (Agenda Item 20)
The Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer reported that she had nothing specific to report for this quarter but it should be noted that all the managers had included pages within their valuation reports which provided details on their voting at company AGMs, engagement with companies and their involvement with other socially responsible initiatives.
RESOLVED: to note the report.
................................................................................... in the Chair
Date of signing.................................................................. 2008
|