Issue - meetings

To provide Committee with the draft Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) Business Plan, including the WPP objectives budget for 2024/25 for approval.

The Committee noted the update and approved the draft WPP Business Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27, including the WPP objectives and budget.

Mrs Fielder explained that WPP Business Plan was received by the Joint Governance Committee last week and no changes were requested, meaning the version provided in the background papers was the final version for approval. She took the Committee through the main points of the report, particularly the budget and annual costs. She noted the introduction of private markets allocators which attract higher fees based on committed amounts or invested capital, and that these costs are now included in the WPP budget,

          Mr Hibbert commented that he had no complaints regarding the Business Plan, but noted his concerns regarding the governance of the WPP and the JGC in particular. He referred to page 11 which states: 

“The Constituent Authorities are heavily involved in all aspects of the WPP’s governance structure, while the WPP’s Joint Governance Committee and Officers Working Group are comprised respectively of elected councillors, scheme member representative and officer representatives from the Constituent Authorities”. 

 Mr Hibbert said this gives the impression that the Scheme Member Representative is on equal footing with other JGC members.  Mr Hibbert explained his view is this is not accurate as the Scheme Member Representative is subject to satisfying a person specification, job description, interview, is subject to a two-year time limitation and is a nonvoting role, unlike any other member of the JGC. He asked if there was any progress made on making the scheme member representative an equal member of the JGC. 

 The Chairman said he was not aware of any update on this and highlighted that all constituent authorities must agree to implement any change. He said that the current JGC Scheme Member Representative has changed the mind of the JGC on multiple occasions, and while he does not have a vote, he is influential. The Chairman said he will take this up with JGC but does not anticipate any changes being made. 

RESOLVED: 

The Committee noted the update and approved the draft WPP Business Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27, including the WPP objectives and budget.