Issue - meetings

(a)  The Committee noted and discussed the report.

(b)  The Committee approved the changes to the Inter-Authority Agreement (IAA) to allow for the inclusion of a Scheme Member Representative on the JGC, subject to agreement of the proposed changes to the IAA wording by the Head of Clwyd Pension Fund and requesting the Chairman to raise the wish for a Pension Board led appointment process at the next JGC.

Mr Latham gave the Committee an update on the work undertaken by the Wales Pension Partnership (“WPP”) with pooling investments in Wales and made the following key points:

• He confirmed that the JGC had now agreed to have a co-opted Scheme Member Representative on the Committee.
• The WPP have progressed and reviewed new policies including a training policy and the adoption of the Robeco voting policy.
• A new risk sub-group had been created and is now embedded into the governance of the WPP.
• Work is continuing on the WPP private markets, risk and RI sub groups. These are complex areas and have been more time consuming than originally anticipated for Mrs Fielder and Mr Latham who are involved with both these groups.
• In terms of investments for the WPP, Global Equity Investments and Multi-Asset Credit investments were now managed by the WPP and performing as expected, although both portfolios are relatively new.
• There were delays in the launch of the Emerging Markets sub-fund and a September 2021 launch date is now expected. This was mainly due to the desire to include the carbon reduction overlay, which required greater clarity. Mr Latham emphasised the benefits of the emerging markets sub fund is carbon reduction, lower fees and a better risk adjusted return outcome.

Mr Hibbert asked whether the JGC required an interview in the selection process of the Scheme Member Representative. Mr Latham said that the process surrounding how the appointment should be decided would be discussed at the next JGC meeting. Mr Hibbert believed that it should be the member representatives that decide who the representative should be. Cllr Rutherford supported Mr Hibbert’s view. Mr Everett also supported this given there would have already been appointment interviews at fund level for Board members

The Committee agreed that the Chairman should raise this matter with the JGC at the next meeting.

On page 127, Cllr Bateman highlighted that the WPP risk register gave the impression that there was more thumbs down than thumbs up. Mr Latham highlighted to the Committee that there were a lot of thumbs across which meant that WPP were happy but there are still some areas for improvement. Any thumbs down from the chart were around risks with external suppliers.

RESOLVED:

(a)  The Committee noted and discussed the report.

(b)  The Committee approved the changes to the Inter-Authority Agreement (IAA) to allow for the inclusion of a Scheme Member Representative on the JGC, subject to agreement of the proposed changes to the IAA wording by the Head of Clwyd Pension Fund and requesting the Chairman to raise the wish for a Pension Board led appointment process at the next JGC.