Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN

Contact: Andrew Spragg  Email: andrew.spragg@surreycc.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

70/17

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

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    Minutes:

    An apology was received from Phillip Walker.

     

71/17

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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    All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter

    (i)            Any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or

    (ii)           Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this meeting

    NOTES:

    ·         Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest

    ·         As well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is living as a spouse or civil partner)

    ·         Members with a significant personal interest may participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial.

    Minutes:

    There were none.

72/17

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

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    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    Notes:

    1.  The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (state actual deadline date).

    2.  The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (state actual deadline date).

    3.  The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

     

    Minutes:

    There were none.

73/17

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

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    Recommendation: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

    Minutes:

    Resolved: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

     

     

    PART TWO – IN PRIVATE

74/17

INVESTMENT STRATEGY REVIEW AND STATEMENT: DOWNSIDE EQUITY PROTECTION

    At the 10 November 2017 meeting, it was resolved by the Pension Fund Committee that, in the interests of protecting the current equity valuation of the Pension Fund, a further report on implementation of downside equity protection should be presented to the Pension Fund Committee at an extraordinary meeting scheduled for 29 November 2017.

Minutes:

Witnesses:

Sam Werford – Mercer

Hemal Popat – Mercer

John Harrison – Independent Advisor

Rachel Elwell – BCPP CEO

 

Key points raised during the discussion:

 

Mercer presented their exempt report which was discussed in detail by the Committee.  The Committee recognised that the strong performance of equity markets had resulted in a current estimated funding level relative to liabilities of close to 100%.  In the last actuarial valuation, as at March 2016, the expected funding level by March 2019 was significantly lower than this. In order to protect this gain and secure greater stability in employer contribution rates the Committee authorised a downside protection strategy through a cost neutral put/call option strategy implemented by LGIM.

 

Resolved:

 

1.    That a downside equity protection strategy be implemented subject to the details set out in [Exempt Minutes E9/17].

 

2.    That authority be delegated to the Director of Finance and the Pension Committee Chairman to sign off any papers that comply with the constraints set by the Committee.    

 

Reason for decision:

To ensure that the recent funding level improvement associated with asset prices was not lost through market volatility between now and the next actuarial review.

75/17

PUBLICITY OF PART 2 ITEMS

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    To consider whether the item considered under Part 2 of the agenda should be made available to the Press and public.

76/17

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

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    The next meeting of the Surrey Pension Fund Committee will be on 9 February 2018.

    Minutes:

    The date of the meeting was NOTED.