Agenda and minutes

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr McShane.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business.  (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under item X below).

There were no items of urgent business

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 defines a conflict of interest as a financial or other interest which is likely to prejudice a person’s exercise of functions. Therefore, a conflict of interest may arise when an individual:

i)             Has a responsibility or duty in relation to the management of, or provision of advice to, the LBHPF, and

ii)            At the same time, has:

-       a separate personal interest (financial or otherwise) or

-       another responsibility in relation to that matter,

giving rise to a possible conflict with their first responsibility. An interest could also arise due to a family member or close colleague having a specific responsibility or interest in a matter.

At the commencement of the meeting, the Chair will ask all Members of the Committee and Board to declare any new potential conflicts and these will be recorded in the minutes of the meeting and the Fund’s Register of Conflicts of Interest. Any individual who considers that they or another individual has a potential or actual conflict of interest which relates to an item of business at a meeting must advise the Chair prior to the meeting, where possible, or state this clearly at the meeting at the earliest possible opportunity.

There were no declarations of interest.

Note from the Assistant Director of Corporate Governance and Monitoring Officer

When considering the items below, the Committee will be operating in its capacity as ‘Administering Authority’. When the Committee is operating in its capacity as an Administering Authority, Members must have due regard to their duty as quasi-trustees to act in the best interest of the Pension Fund above all other considerations.

Cllr Bevan, Cllr Ross, Cllr Tucker, Keith Brown and Ishmael Owarish had attended a training session delivered by Bridges Fund Management entitled an ‘Introduction to Sustainable and Impact Investing’.

Further notification of training received prior to the meeting had been submitted as follows:

Cllr Bevan:

·         London CIV Low Carbon Workshop 19/09/17

·         AON Flexible retirement from DB schemes 03/10/17

·         The 15^th Annual Local Government Pension Investment Forum 11/10/17

·         Local Authority Pension Fund Forum 17/10/17

·         Schroders Trustee Training 20/10/17

·         IPE Pensions Real Assets 24/10/17

·         RBC ESG Survey Results Launch 31/10/17

·         MACQUARIE Are investors really rewarded for considering ESG issues 02/11/17

·         P&LSA Local Authority Forum 07/11/17

·         Schroders Trustee Training 10/11/17

Cllr Ross:

·         The Pensions Regulator: Module 7 ‘Funding your DB scheme’ 16/11/17

·         London Fraud Forum: PENSION SCAMS:  regulation and the customer journey 22/11/17

·         Aon Hewitt: Trustee Effectiveness Webinar 21/11/17

To consider the minutes of the meeting of the Committee and Board held on 14 September 2017 and confirm these as a correct record.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held 14 September 2017 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chief Financial & S151Officer to update the Committee and

Board on Pensions administration matters.

The Committee received a report on administrative issues related to the Haringey Pension Scheme and discussed the details of this report. The Committee considered the amount of transfers in and out of the pension fund and the number of late payment of contributions there had been since April 2017. While discussing the amount of visits that the Haringey pension website had received over the last 6 months the Committee commented on the positive results and it was agreed that staff would be regularly reminded to visit the site.

Action: Pensions Manager

RESOLVED

That the Committee & Board note the contents of this report in respect of the administration of the pension fund.

Report of the Chief Finance Officer detailing a review that was conducted by the Fund’s investment consultant: Mercer.

The Head of Pensions explained that this report was being presented in response to the request of the Committee & Board  to review the funds Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC). The Committee considered the review report conducted by Mercer and the recommendations included. It was noted that officers of the fund could not give financial advice to members but could communicate the options available. It was suggested that this could be communicated to members via pop up on the e-payslips site.

Action: Head of Pensions & Pensions Manager

Cllr Ross declared an interest at this point of the meeting in relation to Equitable Life as he holds a pension with that fund.

RESOLVED

That the Committee and Board agree to:

·         Open up further funds with Prudential that are not focussed on annuity purchase on retirement, i.e. funds that allow members to withdraw some or all of their AVC Fund as cash at retirement.

·         Officers conducting a communication exercise with AVC members to remind them of the options available to them, in particular when they may have the option to transfer funds between providers or products, to options which may prove more beneficial to them.

·         Officers encouraging the appointed AVC providers to conduct communication exercises with Haringey staff to inform them of the AVC options available to them, i.e. via information sessions for staff to attend.

Report of the Chief Operating Officer to provide an update on the Fund’s risk

register and an opportunity for the Committee to further review the risk score

allocation.

The Committee and Board considered the report on the Fund’s risk register,

introduced by Thomas Skeen, Head of Pensions.

The Committee discussed risk 49 relating to the London CIV and its investment strategy. It was agreed that considering the ongoing changes and reviews taking place at the CIV it would be best to add this topic as an agenda item at the next meeting to allow for a wider discussion.

Action: Head of Pensions

The Chair addressed risk 2 and notified the Committee that all members who had not completed the Pensions Regulators Public Service Toolkit had received an email reminding them to do this.

RESOLVED

·         That the Committee note the risk register.

·         That the Committee note the area of focus for this review at the

meeting is ‘Administration’ and ‘Communication’ risks.

Report of the Chief Operating Officer to identify topics that will come to the

attention of the Committee in the next twelve months and to seek Members

input into future agendas. Suggestions on future training are also requested.

The Committee and Board considered the quarterly report on the forward plan, as introduced by Thomas Skeen, Head of Pensions.

Cllr Bevan advised the Committee that he would be attending the LAPFF Annual Conference in Bournemouth.

RESOLVED

That the Committee note the update on member training attached at Appendix 3.

Report of the Chief Finance Officer & S151 Officer to provide an update to Committee and Board:

·         on progress toward compliance with Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) key performance indicators;

·         to highlight areas where improvement is still needed in order to achieve full compliance.

The Committee & Board considered the Governance report update and noted that the Fund had improved 3 points since the last meeting with a score of 48 out of 59 in terms of achievement of KPI’s in the SAB model. The Head of Pensions gave an overview of the KPI’s where the Fund scored zero and gave explanation for each of these.

RESOLVED

That the Committee and Board note progress since the last report to the Committee and Board on performance against SAB’s key indicators.

Report of the Chief Finance Officer & S151 Officer to report the following in respect of the three months to 30^th June 2017:

·         Funding Level Update

·         Investment asset allocation

·         Investment performance

·         Investment Update

The Committee and Board noted the quarterly Pension Fund update report, as

introduced by Thomas Skeen, Head of Pensions. The indicative funding position as at 30/6/17 had remained stable at 85% from the position reported for the period up to 31 March 2017.

RESOLVED

That the Committee & Board note the information provided in respect of the activity in the three months to 30th June 2017.

Report of the Chief Operating Officer to provide an update on voting activities

on behalf of the Fund.

The Committee and Board considered the quarterly LAPFF engagement report, as introduced by Thomas Skeen, Head of Pensions.

RESOLVED

The Committee note this report.

Report of the Chief Finance Officer updating the Committee on information relating to the changes to the fund’s investment strategy allocation.

The Head of Pensions presented the report as an update for information purposes following the Committee & Boards approval to decrease the funds investment strategy allocation to listed equity by 7.5%.

It was highlighted that the fund was a Tier 1 signatory to the Financial Reporting Council UK Stewardship Code and the Committee & Board considered the formal statement of compliance that had been prepared.

RESOLVED

That the Committee & Board:

·         Note the contents of the report

·         Note the selection of the Ruffer sub fund (via the London CIV) as the fund’s multi asset absolute return manager

·         Approve the updated Investment Strategy Statement attached as Appendix 1.

There were no new items of exempt urgent business.