Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director, Resources which provided Members with an update on Government proposals for pooling of investments in the Local Government Pension Scheme (for copy see file of Minutes).

In response to a question from Councillor Carr, Don McLure advised that it had been suggested in the local government financial press that there would be an emphasis on the size of the pools, expected to be in the tens of £billions, and regionally the value of Pension Funds may not be sufficient to meet the Government’s criteria.

Councillor Martin made the comment that there may be some administrative savings and he could see the advantage of this in areas such as London which had a number of small Boroughs. The size of a pooled investment vehicle would make a difference in terms of achieving value and the use of passive investments would be inadvisable.   

Following a question from Councillor Davinson, Daniel Banks of P-Solve confirmed that it may be difficult to exit a large pooled investment quickly, particularly if the vehicle investment was in infrastructure.

David Ford was of the view that becoming a small part of a large pooled fund may not be beneficial, and the clear advantages should be demonstrated before agreeing to participate in any pooled investment vehicle.  

Resolved:

That the information contained in the report be noted.