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No. | Item |
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ELECT CHAIR To elect
Chair for 2025 / 2026 Decision: DECISION: To re-elect Councillor Elin Hywel as Chair of
this Committee for 2025/26 Minutes: It was resolved to re-elect Councillor Elin
Hywel as Chair of this Committee for 2025/26 |
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ELECT VICE CHAIR To elect
Vice Chair for 2025 / 2026 Decision: DECISION To elect Councillor John Pughe Roberts as
Vice-Chair of this Committee for 2025/26 Minutes: It was resolved to elect Councillor John Pughe
Roberts as Vice-chair of this Committee for 2025/26 |
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APOLOGIES To receive
any apologies for absence Minutes: Apologies
were received from Councillor Stephen Churchman, Councillor John Brynmor Hughes
and Councillor Elin Hywel |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive
any declaration of personal interest Minutes: None to
note |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any
items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so that they may
be considered Minutes: None to
note |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee held
on 17th March 2025 to be signed as a true record Minutes: The Chair
accepted the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2025 as a true record. |
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WALES PENSION PARTNERSHIP BUSINESS PLAN To consider
and approve the Business Plan. Additional documents: Decision: DECISION To approve the Revised Welsh Pension
Partnership Business Plan 2025 - 2028 Minutes: A report was submitted by the Investment Manager asking the Committee to
approve the Wales Pension Partnership's revised Business Plan. It was reported
that the Business Plan had been approved by the Joint Governance Committee in
March 2025, but had now been amended to highlight the Project Snowdon enabling
and design costs, where approval was received at its meeting on 4 June 2025. It
was elaborated that the Plan would require approval from the individual
Committees within the Partnership. It was noted that the Partnership created an annual Business Plan for a
three-year period and the main purpose was: • To explain the
background and governance structure • To highlight the
priorities and objectives over the next three years • To present the
Partnership's plans and policies • To outline the financial
budget • To summarise the WPP's
investments and performance objectives The members thanked the officer for the report. It was proposed and seconded to approve the Business Plan. RESOLVED To approve the Wales Pension Partnership
Revised Business Plan 2025-2028 |
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LGPS: FIT FOR THE FUTURE- WPP'S SUBMISSION TO GOVERNMENT To consider the report and
recommend to the Council (at its meeting on 3 July 2025):
Additional documents:
Decision: To accept the report. To recommend to the Full Council (at its meeting on 3rd July 2025) to: 1. Note the WPP Fit for the Future Business Case (Appendix 3, Appendix 4
and section 4) 2. Approve the formation of a corporate entity wholly owned by the WPP
Administering Authorities to be the WPP Investment Management Company (IMCo.)
and all other actions necessary to submit an application to the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) for the authorisation of the IMCo. including but not
limited to the selection and recruitment of Senior Management Function (SMF)
roles as required by the FCA and the preparation and submission of the
application to the FCA. (Section 5) 3. Approve the revised WPP Business Plan & budget 2025/28 which
includes design/enabling costs for Project Snowdon (Appendix 5 and Section 6) 5
- 10 11 - 27 28 - 124 4. Delegate the S151 Officer in
consultation with The Pension Fund Committee Chair to progress Project Snowdon
alongside WPP Administering Authorities (AAs) in line with the Government
timetable within the approved budget. 5. Delegate the final approval of the
final formal documentation required for IMCo. to be operational, described as
“Go Live Work” as outlined in Section 7, to the Pension Fund Committee to give
effect to The WPP Fit for the Future Business Case. Minutes: A joint report was
submitted by the Head of Finance and the Investment Manager. Members were
reminded, in accordance with the requirements of the 'Fit for the Future'
consultation launched in November 2024, that the eight LGPS pools established
nationally were invited to present a business case which outlined how they
would meet the Government's required criteria. It was noted that the Government
had outlined a range of proposals to strengthen the work of managing LGPS
investments in three key fields, which included reforming LGPS assets funds,
promoting LGPS investment in local areas and regions in the UK, and
strengthening the governance of the LGPS Administering Authorities and the LGPS
funds. During the
consultation, the basic question was raised as to whether the WPP would
consider establishing an independent company or join with another LGPS in
England. It was reported that the WPP had concluded that what was best for all
direct and wider stakeholders in Wales was to go forward to build its own IMCo.
and retain its independence as a pool with the eight LGPSs in Wales as the sole
stakeholders and clients. The WPP business case
was submitted to the Government in February 2025 and in April 2025, the
encouraging news was received that the Government had approved the WPP business
case, with Government officers requesting that the WPP continued to implement
its plans and continued to inform the Government of the progress. It was noted
that two pools in England, Brunel and ACCESS, had been unsuccessful in
presenting their business case and the basic AA had now invited them to try to
join another pool. It was elaborated, in
order to satisfy the Government's challenging deadlines, that an FCA
application would need to be presented to establish a WPP IMCo. soon. It was
noted that the FCA requirements stated that the entity applying for the
authority (i.e. WPP IMCo.) had to be incorporated before presenting the FCA
application and the holders of some Senior Management (SMF) posts, including
the Chief Executive Officer, had to be identified and included in the
application. Reference was made to
the next steps of the process which included establishing a Board with a
representation of shareholders (which would replace the Joint Committee) and
during the summer 2025, there would be a need to register the company, ensuring
compliance with the FCA requirements. It was considered that forming a WPP IMCo. would be a once in a generation opportunity to create an independent LGPS Investment Company for the benefit of all stakeholders of the 22 local authorities in Wales, which would continue to invest for its members and protect LGPS pensions, and also have the opportunity to continue with its role investing locally across Wales and the rest of the UK, working with Councils, Corporate Joint Committees, the Development Bank of Wales, the British Business Bank and the Welsh Government, promoting economic growth, providing employment, protecting clean energy and improving the country's wider infrastructure, for the benefit of the people of Wales. ... view the full minutes text for item 8. |
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LGPS POOLING SYMPOSIUM To consider
and receive the information. Decision: DECISION: To accept and note the information. Minutes: A verbal update was
received from Councillor Iwan Huws who had attended the conference in May 2025. It was reported that
pooling was the main matter under discussion in the conference, which focused
on how the pooling of local authority funds continued to evolve and what this
would mean for the future. It was noted that the timing was interesting given
the response to the Fit for the Future Consultation. It was highlighted that
the Business Wales case received significant praise and everyone who was
associated with the work was congratulated, detailing the good collaboration. It
was noted that the conference had been a good opportunity for attendees to
network and share best practices, as well as a good educational opportunity for
members. RESOLVED To accept and note the information. |
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INVEST IN WALES CONFERENCE To consider
and receive the information Decision: Minutes: A verbal update was
provided by Councillor Goronwy Edwards who had attended the conference in April
2025, as well as Councillor Elin Hywel and the Head of Finance. It was noted that
although there was a lot of discussions about investing in Wales, it seemed
that it was the social impact that was being promoted instead of receiving full
information about financial investment opportunities in Wales. Reference was
made to the town centres regeneration opportunities and constructing houses,
but mainly, there was a sense that Wales was a country of small businesses and
therefore there was a need to encourage support for these businesses to
develop. RESOLVED To accept and note the information. |