Agenda

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2022 and to receive information arising from them.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection. To facilitate ‘hybrid’ meetings we are asking that requests to speak are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting i.e., 9am on Monday 27 February 2023.

Requests to speak should be sent to khalid.ahmed@oxfordshire.gov.uk  If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails, then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

10.05am

This report covers an overview of the financial markets, the overall performance of the Fund’s investments against the Investment Strategy Statement and commentary on any issues related to the specific investment portfolios.

The report includes the quarterly investment performance monitoring reports, including the newly designed report from Brunel.

10.20am

David Vickers (Brunel) will cover the main issues arising from the performance of the Brunel portfolios over the past year and highlight the key issues for the forthcoming year.

10.35am

The report of the Independent Investment Advisor sets out the direction of travel for the Fund’s Strategic Asset Allocation for the next three years.

The Committee will be recommended to approve the following recommendations.

1. Against a higher inflationary environment to work with Brunel to ensure that the Fund’s assets continue to match the liability profile at the cashflow level, including if necessary generating sufficient income to fund increased pension payments.

2. To consider if the Fund should put in place a currency hedging strategy, utilising the resources available through Brunel.

3. To review the exposure to the UK equity market with the objectives of:

i. Reducing the overweight position of UK Equities in comparison to the Global UK weighting over time. Consideration will be given to switching to either the Paris Aligned Global passive sub fund or to the active Global Sustainable Investment sub fund.

ii. For the retained UK exposure to achieve better representation to UK plc in earnings terms and reducing carbon/ climate risk exposure, either on a passive or active basis.

4. To review the Emerging Markets mandate so as to remove exposure to China so far as is practically possible.

5. In the absence of similar arrangements being offered by Brunel, to retain the listed Private Equity (PE) portfolio and return the management of that to a semi-active basis to ensure that an appropriate balance of investments is maintained.

6. To continue to work with Brunel and independently to meet the Fund’s evolving ESG and Climate policy requirements.

7. To consider the DLUHC “Levelling Up” local investment proposals

8. To confirm that the Fund will continue to reinvest on a timely basis capital distributions made by legacy managers and Brunel as investments mature.

11.20am

A copy of the unconfirmed Minutes of the Local Pension Board, which met on 20 January 2023  is attached for information only.

11.25am

The report sets out the items the Local Pension Board wishes to draw to the attention of this Committee following their last meeting in January 2023.

11.35am

This report proposes a Business Plan, Budget and Training Plan for the forthcoming financial year. The report also includes a review on progress against the key priorities set out in the Annual Business Plan for 2022/23.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

a.       Note the progress against the service priorities for 2022/23;

b.       approve the Business Plan and Budget for 2023/24 as set out at Annex 1;

c.       approve the Pension Fund Cash Management Strategy for 2023/24.

d.       delegate authority to the Director of Finance to make changes necessary to the Pension Fund Cash Management Strategy during the year, in line with changes to the County Council’s Treasury Management Strategy;

e.       delegate authority to the Director of Finance to open separate pension fund bank, deposit and investment accounts as appropriate;

f.        delegate authority to the Director of Finance to borrow money for the pension fund in accordance with the regulations.

11.55am

This report presents the latest position on the Fund’s risk register, including any new risks identified since the report to the last meeting.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the latest risk register and agree that the risk register covers all key risks to the achievement of their statutory responsibilities, and that the mitigation plans, where required, are appropriate.

12.05pm

This report presents a review of the Communication Policy for the Fund and highlights a number of new initiatives agreed with the Pension Board to seek improvement with scheme member engagement.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to

a)       approve the revised Communications Policy,

b)       note the outcome of the Member Engagement Review carried out by the Governance and Communications Team and

c)       ask Officers to develop an implementation plan based on the outcome of the Member Engagement Review.

12.15pm

This report updates the Committee on the key administration issues including service performance measurement, the debt recovery process and any write offs agreed in the last quarter.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to

a)       Approve the increase in establishment of two administrator posts

b)       Comment on changes to way in which performance information is presented and what other information should be included

c)       Confirm whether this committee would like to receive a copy of the fire administration report to the fire pension board minutes with this report

d)       Confirm if the proposed changes to the nomination process is acceptable

e)       Confirm if the proposed changes to the recovery of overpayments in cases where the pensioner has died, is acceptable.

12.25pm

This report is the first annual report on cyber security and covers those issues identified during the review undertaken earlier in the year.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to

a)       To review this report and determine any further actions to be taken

b)       To confirm that this report is to be produced on an annual basis

c)       To decide if pension specific fund penetration testing should be carried out.

12.35pm

Members will be updated on any items not covered elsewhere on today’s agenda in respect of their responsibilities in respect of corporate governance and responsible investment.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED that the public be excluded for the duration of the following items on the Agenda (during discussion on confidential matters) 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.

THE REPORTS RELATING TO THE EXEMPT ITEMS HAVE NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND SHOULD BE REGARDED AS STRICTLY PRIVATE TO MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE THEM.

12.35pm

This report updates the Committee on the on-going review into the future AVC provision to scheme members. The Committee will be recommended to agree in principle the arrangements for the future provision of the AVC service.

The Committee is recommended to approve the recommendation contained in the confidential report.

The public should be excluded during this item because its discussion in public would be likely to lead to the disclosure to members of the public present of information in the following prescribed category:

3.       Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

12.50pm

The confidential report sets out the key issues associated with the current Special Reserved Matter issued by Brunel.

The Committee is recommended to endorse the approval to the SRM.

The public should be excluded during this item because its discussion in public would be likely to lead to the disclosure to members of the public present of information in the following prescribed category:

3.       Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.