Agenda item

The minutes were agreed subject to an amendment outlined in italics below.

The item was considered by Members under Part 2 proceedings in view of the restricted nature of certain details arising from the minutes. Those matters which can be covered in Part 1 minutes are outlined below with other details covered in the Part 2 (Restricted) minutes.

A Member was concerned that draft minutes of the 26^th September meeting had been seen first by the General Purposes and Licensing Committee without being seen by the Sub-Committee and that his request to see the clerk’s original draft minutes had been denied, questioning why this should be the case. The Member was particularly interested to compare the clerk’s original draft minutes against later text in relation to the £32.1m sale of Blackrock global equities to cover transfer of assets/ liabilities to the Local Pensions Partnership (Bromley College merger with Greenwich Community College). The minutes indicated that the Member had hoped that poorly performing Standard Life assets (DGF) would have been sold to cover the transfer rather than global equities held by Blackrock which had subsequently improved - the minutes conveying the Member as suggesting the fund had forgone some capital appreciation in selling the global equities. The Member highlighted that he had stated rather than suggested the fund had foregone some capital appreciation and that the final draft minutes excluded a value of lost capital appreciation which he understood to have been in the order of £2.1m or £2.2m (at the time of the 26^th September meeting). Having the minutes then circulated to the General Purposes and Licensing Sub-Committee without the Sub-Committee first seeing the draft minutes was, he felt, unfortunate. 

For the minutes of the 26^th September meeting, Members agreed that the final sentence of the fourth paragraph at Page 7 should therefore be amended to read:

“He stated the fund had forgone an estimated £2.2m capital appreciation in selling the global equities and felt this had been a wrong decision seemingly based on poor performance over a three month period.”

The Director of Finance also provided a general update for Members on certain matters.

The new Minister for Local Government, Rishi Sunak, (appointed on 9^th January 2018) is interested in pooling and has an investment background.

In regard to Carillion and its liquidation, the Director indicated that three local government pension funds had invested with Carillion and 13 local authorities had outsourcing agreements with Carillion. In accordance with TUPE conditions, contracted-out staff at Carillion had protected Local Government Pension benefits, and it was expected that the deficit would need to be funded by the LGPS administering authority.

Under The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), the Director reported that L B Bromley’s application to opt-up to elective professional status had been successful and had passed the relevant test.

The Director also referred to a review by GAD (the Government Actuary’s Department) on the affordability of pension funds and the proportion of employer/employee costs for funds.

Developments on specific matters related to the London Collective Investment Vehicle (CIV) were also considered under Part 2 proceedings. Details are covered in the Part 2 (Restricted) minutes under the item confirming exempt minutes of the meetings held on 21^st November 2017 and 14^th December 2017.