Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Carolan Dobson (Committee Advisor) and Trevor Egleton.

There were no changes in membership.

To declare any personal and prejudicial interests

There were no declarations of interest.

of the meeting held on 23 October 2008, to be confirmed

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 October were confirmed.

It was noted that the dates of future meetings on page 3 have been amended, and are confirmed below.

Report from Clive Palfreyman, Assistant Head of Finance

The Assistant Head of Finance gave a presentation summarising the Pension Fund Consultative Committee which took place on 15 October 2008.

Julie Vrondis then summarised the discretionary policies and explained that the first six have already been agreed and policies 7 to 14 needed to be agreed. The Pensions Manager explained these last eight policies in more detail.

Members NOTED the Pension Fund Consultative Group minutes and APPROVED the discretionary policies for the Administering Authority.

TRAINING FEEDBACK

The Chairman reported that the training attended on 12 November 2008 at Blackstone, London was excellent.

The Members were also advised that the BlackRock half day training was very good, covering the current market, comparing it to patterns from the past, oil price and also discussing volatility. The training also highlighted that there have been more positive years than negative years. BlackRock advised that when investing you should aim for a 2% risk for a 1% return. They also stated that there is 6% to 7% guaranteed return even through this current climate.  Members also welcomed the Schroder presentation on Emerging Markets.

The matter of training was raised in that it should be more objective. Members felt that given their responsibility with regards Pensions that it would be beneficial to have the option to challenge presenters on a more open basis, for example, once presentations have been made, bringing all the presenters back out so they can be questioned and, where appropriate, matters debated between presenters to ascertain their opinions and views. This would provide the Members with greater knowledge and objective views to enable them to be more pro-active and challenging when dealing with Fund Managers in the future.

Report from Julie Edwards, Treasury Manager

The Assistant Head of Finance provided a short summary of the Fund Manager’s Performance to the Members. Following the summary the Members held a discussion relating to Benchmarking, Equity Investment and rewards for performance and non-performance by Fund Managers.

Report from Julie Edwards, Treasury Manager

The Assistant Head of Finance reported to the Members on the Risk Register. Five specific risks were brought to the Members attention, P2, P9, P12, P14 and P17. Members were also advised that when it came appointing new Fund Managers, that timing is crucial.

Members NOTED and ACCEPTED the recommendations made with regard to the Pension Fund Risk Register.

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Thursday 5 March 2009.

Members are reminded that there will be two further meetings of the Committee, on 22 and 23 January (all day), for Fund Manager selection.

Dates of future meetings:

2 April

28 May

24 September

22 October

26 November

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on Tuesday 16 December 2008 at 10.30am.

Dates of Future Meetings:-

2009 (All meetings to start at 10am)

22/23 January

12 February

2 April

19 June

17 September

22 October

17 December

To resolve to exclude the press and public as the following item is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

RESOLVED

That the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

of the meeting held on 23 October 2008, to be confirmed

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on 23 October were confirmed.

It was requested that the report from Carolan Dobson following the presentations by Mirabaud and Standard form part of the minutes.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Christopher Toub, Head of Global/International Growth Equities and Les Komaromy, Director of Client Services. The Committee received a presentation.

The Chairman thanked the representatives of Alliance Bernstein for their presentation.

There followed a discussion amongst Members as to the presentation and thoughts regarding Alliance Bernstein as to their performance over the last two and a half years.

Report from Clive Palfreyman, Assistant Head of Finance

The Assistant Head of Finance presented to the Committee the Pension Fund Investment Strategy Review.

It was agreed that an extra meeting would be arranged for Tuesday 16 December at 10.30am to further discuss this issue.