Minutes:
1. Special Meeting.
The Committee were informed that a Special meeting would need to be arranged to interview potential Fund Managers for the new Multi Asset Manager. Officers advised that a whole day would be required as 6 firms would be short-listed.
The Committee agreed that the meeting be arranged for early September and that a briefing/training be organised for the start of the meeting.
Officers were asked to circulate to all members details of the companies on the short-list.
2. Department for Communities and Local Government – call for evidence on the future structure of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Officers advised the Committee that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had issued a call for evidence on the future structure of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Back in May the Local Government Association and DCLG had held a roundtable event on the potential for increased co-operation with the Local Government Pension Scheme, including the possibility of structural change to the current 89 funds. That roundtable, had proposed the following high level and secondary objectives for structural reform:
High Level objectives
i. Dealing with deficits;
ii. Improving investment returns.
Secondary objectives
iii. To reduce investment fees;
iv. To improve the flexibility of investment strategies;
v. To provide for greater investment in infrastructure;
vi. To improve the cost effectiveness of administration;
vii. To provide access to higher quality staffing resources,
viii. To provide more in-house investment resources.
The DCLG were asking consultees to address themselves to 5 specific questions, (although not exclusive). These were:
· Q1 -How can the Local Government Pension Scheme best achieve a high level of accountability to local taxpayers and other interested parties – including through the availability of transparent and comparable data on costs and income – whilst adapting to become more efficient and to promote stronger investment performance.
· Q2 Are the high level objectives listed above those we should be focussing on and why? If not, what objectives should be the focus of reform and why? How should success against these objectives be measured?
· Q3 What options for reform would best meet the high level objectives and why?
· Q4 To what extent would the options you have proposed under question 3 meet any or all of the secondary objectives? Are there any other secondary objectives that should be included and why?
· Q5 What data is required in order to better assess the current position of the Local Government Pension Scheme, the individual Scheme fund authorities and the options proposed under this call for evidence? How could such data be best produced, collated and analysed?
The Committee asked members to take away the Call for evidence and provide feedback to the next meeting in July.
3. Public Sector Pensions Bill
Officers advised the Committee that the new governance arrangements proposed in the Bill would now not be implemented until 2015.
The Committee were informed that Automatic Enrolment had gone live on 1st May, 2013. 486 members had been enrolled in the Pensions scheme and 50% had opted out immediately.
The Committee noted the oral updates.