Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Cllr David Simmonds and Andrew Scott.

Councillors Corthorne, Duncan, Harmsworth and Lewis, and advisory member John Holroyd declared a personal interest in all Agenda Items, in that they were all members of the Local Government Pension Scheme, and remained in the room.

Resolved:

The Committee agreed that the minutes were an accurate record of the previous meeting.

Resolved:

The Committee agreed that Agenda Items 6 to 10 were to be considered in public; andAgenda Items 10 to 13 were to be considered in private for the reasons stated on the agenda.  Members of the press and public would be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of these items.

Officers presented the review of the fund manager performance for the London Borough of Hillingdon Pension Fund for the period ending on 30 September 2011. The total value of the fund’s investments as at 30 September 2011 was £564.3m.

Members discussed the performance of the Fund Managers and noted a pleasing quarterly performance. Members noted that for the quarter ending 30 September 2011, Hillingdon returned a negative 6.20%, outperforming against the WM average by 3.10%. The one year figure shows an outperformance of 2.54% with positive returns of 1.34% against the average negative return of 1.20%.

Resolved:

The Committee noted the review update.

The Chairman of the Committee presented the report which summarised the number of Early Retirements in the year 2011/12. Officers informed Members that in quarter 2 of the current year 42 people over the age of 55 had their LGPS benefits put into payment due to redundancy and efficiency.

Resolved:

The Committee noted the report.

Officers presented the Pension Budget Fund 2011/12 to the Committee. Officers said the combined impact of lower income and higher expenditure is forecasting a member deficit of £1.7m as at month 6, £2.4m less than the budget. Members clarified that the current forecast was predicting as overall deficit from operations of £2.5m. Officers said the budget would continue to be monitored on a monthly basis and issues would be reported to the next meeting of Committee.

Resolved:

The Committee noted the budget position as at 30 September 2011.

Officers informed the Committee Members that from September 2010, Pensions Administration was combined with Payroll under a single manager. Monthly performance indicator reports were sent to officers in HR responsible for the day to day administration of the scheme. Two temporary members of staff has been introduced to the team doe the two other members leaving and one member on long term sickness absence.

Resolved:

The Committee noted the report.

Officers presented the Committee with an update on Governance Issues and the Knowledge and Skills framework.

Members discussed what approach should be taken to member development. Members said it was imperative that officers continue to keep the Committee updated on changes to legislation and to maintain member knowledge. Members agreed that substitute Members of the Pensions Committee should also be provided with a good working knowledge of current issues. Committee Members said the Corporate Services and Partnerships Policy Overview Committee were currently reviewing Hillingdon’s Audit Committee including the training of all substitute members.

Members queried whether a minimum term of office could be introduced for committees that required a ‘specialist’ training programme. The Committee agreed that this was out of the remit for the Pensions Committee but could be investigated through the Party Chief Whips.

The Committee agreed that it would be useful to invite substitute members to undertake training relevant to Pensions Committee members and also invite substitute members to a Pensions Committee meeting.

Members agreed that points 2 and 3 should be deleted from the Member Development programme.

Members noted the revisions to the Statement of Investment Principles, and the Financial Reporting Council Stewardship Code.

Resolved:

1.       Members agreed that all Pensions Committee Members, including substitute members should receiving training and be kept on to date on the current economic climate.

2.       Members approved the revisions to the Statement of Investment Principles

3.       Members agreed to sign up to the Financial Reporting Council Stewardship Code and included a reference to the code in new mandates.

This item was discussed as a Part 2 item without the press or public

present as the information under discussion contained confidential or

exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access

to Information) Act 1985. This was because it discussed ‘information

relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person

(including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the

schedule to the Act).

This item was discussed as a Part 2 item without the press or public

present as the information under discussion contained confidential or

exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access

to Information) Act 1985. This was because it discussed ‘information

relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person

(including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the

schedule to the Act).

This item was discussed as a Part 2 item without the press or public

present as the information under discussion contained confidential or

exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access

to Information) Act 1985. This was because it discussed ‘information

relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person

(including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the

schedule to the Act).

This item was discussed as a Part 2 item without the press or public

present as the information under discussion contained confidential or

exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access

to Information) Act 1985. This was because it discussed ‘information

relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person

(including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the

schedule to the Act).

This item was discussed as a Part 2 item without the press or public

present as the information under discussion contained confidential or

exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access

to Information) Act 1985. This was because it discussed ‘information

relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person

(including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the

schedule to the Act).