Agenda and minutes

Received from Councillor O’Sullivan.

None.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

·         if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

·         you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)    Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c)   Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or  longer.

(f)  Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

(g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

Councillor Convery declared an interest in items on the agenda as a member of the Pension Fund.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2020 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

  RESOLVED:

The Chair was pleased to report that, together with a number of other Pension and Investment Funds, Islington was part of a resolution to HSBC urging the Bank to cut its exposure to fossil fuels, starting with coal.  HSBC had agreed to table a shareholder vote at their forthcoming AGM seeking the phasing out of the financing of coal by 2040. 

Members expressed their continued interest in achieving as many targets as possible to reach net zero carbon by 2030.  Although there were limited products available on the market at the current time to assist in achieving this, it was noted that Fund Managers were looking at options to be available to Pension Funds in the near future.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the action agreed at the training session in February 2021 for the Sub-Committee to receive a report in June 2021 to review the current decarbonisation policy and to reset targets the Fund can achieve in the medium to long term be noted.

(b) That a report be submitted to the Sub-Committee on more evolved and progressive responsible indices now available in the market for options on the Fund’s passive equities.

(c) That the draft recommendations at the training session listed in paragraph 3.3.2 of the report of the Corporate Director of Resources be noted and a briefing be prepared on considerations for the pension investments to transition to Net Zero Carbon transition to <2?C.

In considering the options for Private Debt procurement, members agreed that the criteria they would apply would be which other funds were investing with the individual managers, how much to commit and fee deferentials.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the current options for Private Debt procurement, as detailed in table 1 of the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, be noted.

(b) That officers be authorised to continue to explore the options and conclude by June 2021 which option(s) best delivers value for money to proceed to procure suitable managers

(c) That a progress report be submitted to the next meeting in June 2021.

RESOLVED:

That the appendix to the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, detailing agenda items for forthcoming meetings, be approved.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the report and accompanying appendices of the Corporate Director of Resources, informing the Sub-Committee of the progress made at the London CIV in launching funds, running of portfolios, reviewing governance and investment structure, over the period December 2020 to February 2021, be noted.

(b) That the progress and activities presented at the February business update session (exempt Appendix1) and news briefing “Collective Voice-February” attached as exempt Appendix 1A, be noted. 

RESOLVED:

That the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following items as the presence of members of the public and press would result in the disclosure of exempt information within the terms of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, for the reasons indicated:

Noted.

Noted.