Agenda and minutes

Apologies for inability to attend the meeting were received from Councillors Robert Benham and Philip Ruck.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in any item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosure of interest.

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2022 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes from 15 March 2022 were agreed as a correct record. It was suggested that the second last paragraph under item 241 BUSINESS PLAN – PC ANNUAL REPORT 2021-22 could be removed, as it was a duplicate of what had been written in the previous paragraph.

Report and appendices attached.

The Committee were presented with a report that provided an overview of how the fund’s investments were performing, how the individual Investment Managers were also performing against their set targets and any relevant Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) updates for the quarter ending 31 March 2022. Any significant events that occurred after production of this report would be addressed verbally at the meeting.

It was explained that the Fund had reduced in value by 3.03%over this quarter, it underperformed the tactical benchmark by -2.51% and outperformed the strategic benchmark by 1.79%.

The general position of the Fund was considered and other matters including any current issues as advised by Hymans. Russell Investments attended the meeting.

Hymans discussed the fund’s performance and the manager joined the meeting sharing their presentation and answered any questions. It was also explained that and as of today value had dropped a further £14.2 m due to market volatility.

The Committee agreed the recommendations.

Report and appendices attached.

The Committee were provided with a report that showed an extract of the Authority’s Statement of Accounts for the year to 31st March 2022 showing the unaudited accounts of the Havering Pension Fund (“the Fund”) as at that date.

It was explained that a review of the effectiveness of external audit and transparency of financial reporting in local authorities by Sir Tony Redmond included a recommendation that the deadline for publishing audited accounts was  extended to 30 September from the 31 July each year with draft accounts published on or before the 1 August. This would cover the two financial years 2021 and 2021/22.

The Committee agreed the recommendations in the report.

Report and appendices attached.

The Committee were presented with a summary of the Funds current position concerning the 11 climate-related disclosures under the scope of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), for the year ending 31 March 2022. The Committee’s Business Plan for 2022/2023 included the development of a broader climate action plan. Hymans took the members through each of the disclosures in the report.

The Committee expected to consider this as part of the evolution of its approach to the management of climate related risks over the coming year as part of its Climate Risk Plan. Elsewhere on the agenda was the Climate Risk Plan that will kick start the process of setting targets for the Fund.

The Committee agreed the recommendations.

Report and appendices attached.

The Committee was presented with a report that set out the next steps in developing the Fund’s Plan for addressing climate risk within the Fund’s investment portfolio. The Committee’s Business Plan for 2022/2023 included the development of a broader climate action plan.

It was explained that the Fund’s Investment consultant (Hymans) had set out the possible next steps in developing the Fund’s plans for addressing climate risk in their report attached as Appendix A. Hymans would discuss these possible next steps with the Committee and ascertain any additional actions that needed to be taken to meet the Fund’s requirements.

The Climate Risk Plan followed on from a climate risk workshop. This Plan was to establish a baseline position for change and from then on, the Fund would focus on specific areas and frame objectives and targets for change. The Fund would be able to develop and implement a plan to address climate-related risks to monitor and report these over time.

The Committee agreed the recommendations.