Issue - meetings

This report, presented by Victoria Moffett, Pensions and Investments Manager, provided a quarterly progress update against the action plan.  Many actions were on track to be delivered but there were some activities, highlighted in red within the report, that were subject to greater challenges.  This was particularly the case with governance related actions, where a common underlying factor was resourcing, despite previous increases in capacity. Business cases for additional support were being put together for the areas of governance, accountancy and investment.

Mike Snow asked when resource was likely to be redirected and Victoria Moffett advised that the Business Case was being prepared and consideration was being given to known changes in staffing that would occur in the next 12 months due to retirement.  Chris Norton, Strategy and Commissioning Manager (Treasury, Pensions, Audit, Insurance, and Risk), noted that there would be increasing expectations as a result of the good governance review and the requirements of The Pensions Regulator so it was essential that the service looked ahead to meet those challenges in a planned way and considered the profile of demand for the administration team.

The Chair initiated a discussion on the rating of some of the action points.  Members were advised that additional resource for red rated actions would see them move to amber but the goal was to reach green status.  The Board also considered that some actions eg, nos 40 (review of disaster recovery planning) and 28 (engagement on climate change) should be re-prioritised.  Discussion took place around targets for carbon zero, noting that Border to Coast were making a commitment to Net Zero in 2050 but that South Yorkshire Pension Fund had committed to 2030.  Representing pension scheme members, board member Alan Kidner commented on the BCPP target saying that 29 years was not an appropriate response time when one was faced with an emergency.  Referring to the record breaking heat waves in Canada at the end of June, and the current extreme rainfall and flooding in Germany, he expressed the view that the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021 would announce that we needed to work harder and faster to mitigate change.  He went on to encourage Warwickshire Pension Fund to follow the good example of South Yorkshire and adopt a 2030 target.  Victoria Moffett advised that Warwickshire Pension Fund would be looking at metrics and targets and some training was planned to support understanding of the implications of a target before committing to one.  The Pension Fund Investment Sub-Committee would be receiving a report on this topic in September 2021 which would specifically look to review passive equity allocation.

Councillor Sarah Millar was invited to address the Board on the Pension Fund Investment Sub-Committee’s passionate approach to carbon-zero and she noted the Sub-Committee was looking forward to further discussion.

The Local Pension Board noted the report.