Policy and Resources Committee at its meeting of 12th July 2023 declared the industrial units 10, 12 and 14 Kelvinside, Wallasey, surplus assets and authorised the Director of Regeneration and Place in consultation with the Director of Law and Corporate Services to progress the disposal of the property.  This report summarises the sale process and sale price.

The Director of Regeneration and Place has approved the sale of the industrial units 10, 12 and 14 Kelvinside, Wallasey to Structural Timber Group Ltd at a price of £760,000.

The Director of Law and Corporate Services reported upon an application received to consider whether to license a Mercedes-Benz E Class, registration number OU69 RGO, as a Private Hire Vehicle outside of the criteria for licensing Private Hire Vehicles which states that the front windscreen must allow at least 75% of light through, the front side windows must allow at least 70% of light through and the windows rear of the B-pillar must allow a minimum light transmission of 30%. The proprietor had also requested an exemption from the legal requirement to display Private Hire Vehicle Licence Plates and the conditions relating to displaying door signs on the vehicle.

The proprietor attended the meeting with the vehicle which the Licensing Panel inspected. The proprietor of the vehicle explained that they currently provided an executive travel service and that the application had been made as they had had to purchase a new vehicle due to a major fault with the vehicle that they currently have licensed. The proprietor responded to questions from Members of the Panel.

Resolved – That a Private Hire Vehicle Licence be granted with the following conditions:

All bookings must be made at least 24 hours in advance.

·  Payment for all bookings must be requested through an invoicing system.

·  The operator must communicate with customers for each booking taken, by text or email, with the following information:

- Private Hire Driver name

- Private Hire Driver photograph

- Private Hire Driver badge number

- Private Hire Vehicle registration number

For the avoidance of doubt, the above conditions also apply in respect of drivers and vehicles undertaking work for bookings subcontracted to other private hire companies.

The Chair declared a personal interest in that he had spoken to the applicant about taxi matters about a year previously. The applicant was content for the Chair to remain.

The Director of Law and Corporate Services submitted a report to consider an application to amend a condition attached to a current Private Hire Vehicle Licence namely a Vauxhall Vivaro, registration number DX68 WKD to increase the number of passengers permitted to be carried in the vehicle from seven to eight.

The proprietor attended the meeting with the vehicle which the Licensing Panel inspected. The proprietor explained to the panel that they only undertook school contract work and airport transfers, and the increase was to accommodate more passengers for these purposes.

Resolved – That the application to increase the number of passengers permitted to be carried in the Vauxhall Vivaro registration number DX68 WKD, from seven to eight be granted.

The Director of Law and Corporate Services reported upon an application received to consider whether to license a BMW 7 Series, registration AE22 NXF, as a Private Hire Vehicle outside of the criteria for licensing Private Hire Vehicles as the proprietor had requested an exemption from the legal requirement to display Private Hire Vehicle Licence Plates and the conditions relating to displaying door signs on the vehicle. There had originally been a request to an exemption to the policy in that the vehicle’s windows did not comply with the minimum light transmission set out in the Council’s Policy, but after inspection they were considered to be compliant.

The proprietor of the vehicle attended the meeting with the vehicle which was inspected by Members.

The proprietor of the vehicle had provided a business plan to Members of the Panel which was outlined at the meeting confirming that he wished to provide an executive travel service.

Resolved: That exemptions be granted from the requirements to display Private Hire Vehicle Licence Plates and door signs on the vehicle, subject to the following conditions being applied to the Private Hire Vehicle Licence and Private Hire Operator Licence:

All bookings must be made at least 24 hours in advance.

· Payment for all bookings must be requested through an invoicing system.

· The operator must communicate with customers for each booking taken, by text or email, with the following information:

- Private Hire Driver name

- Private Hire Driver photograph

- Private Hire Driver badge number

- Private Hire Vehicle registration number

 For the avoidance of doubt, the above conditions also apply in respect of drivers and vehicles undertaking work for bookings subcontracted to other private hire companies.

Resolved - That, under section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to that Act. The Public Interest test has been applied and favours exclusion.

The project comprises development of a new heat network serving a mix of buildings including new build residential, existing residential, new build commercial and existing commercial. The project forms an integral part of Birkenhead 2040 Regeneration Framework - one of the biggest brownfield redevelopment sites in the UK. This regeneration of Birkenhead will take place across nine areas providing 21,000 new homes and almost 1,000,000m² square metres of employment space over the next 20 years.

Within this regeneration, there are 8 catalytic projects, one of which is the Birkenhead Heat Network (BHN). In terms of actual building developments, the following projects will form the core heat loads of the BHN:

·  Hind Street Urban Garden Village – over 1,000 new homes;

·  Dock Branch Park – the development linking the south of Birkenhead with Wirral Waters;

·  Birkenhead Commercial District – new offices and new market; and

·  East West Cultural Axis – existing Birkenhead Town Hall and surrounding area

Under the proposals within the report the Council will act as enabler, helping to facilitate connection of these new developments to the BHN in conjunction with its preferred private sector investor.

The Director of Finance has authorised the commencement of a procurement  exercise, to select a private sector partner who will ultimately be responsible for the design, build, finance, operation and maintenance of a district heat network within Birkenhead town centre. This will be conducted through a concessionaire (evergreen) approach, via a competitive dialogue process.

The purpose of this report is to make recommendations to the Director of Children, Family, and Education Services regarding the proposal to directly commission an agency to provide locum educational psychologists to support the Council’s core psychology team to provide assessments and advices to children under the education, health, and care plan needs assessment process (EHCNA). 

The Director of Children, Family and Education Services has approved that a direct award is made to Reed Talent Solutions Ltd. via the YPO Framework Managing Consultancy and Professional Services lot, to provide locum educational psychologists for children and young people undergoing the education, health, and care plan needs assessment process within statutory time frame for a 15 month contract at an estimated cost of £926,250.

The Director of Pensions provided Members with a summary of deliberations at recent Responsible Investment Working Parties and Investment Monitoring Working Parties with a recommendation that Merseyside Pension Fund (MPF) should ensure that it does not hold investments in companies which manufactured weapons proscribed by international treaty to which the UK government is a signatory.

Government guidance set out that although schemes should make the financial return their predominant concern, they may also take purely non-financial considerations into account provided that doing so would not involve significant risk of financial detriment to the scheme and where they had good reason to think that scheme members would support their decision. Having considered a range of exclusion scenarios, it was recognised that the diversity of opinion on this subject made it very difficult for Members to have good reason to assume that members would support a specific course of action other than that established by government.  The most appropriate action, bearing in mind the various considerations discussed at the working parties and summarised in the report, was to be guided by government policy and advice.

It was noted that there had been a public campaign to have the Merseyside Pension Fund divest from companies which supported a military campaign in Gaza.

It was stated that:

·  The law was generally clear that schemes should consider any factors that were financially material to the performance of their investments, including social, environmental and corporate governance factors, and over the long term, dependent on the time horizon over which their liabilities arise. Although schemes should make the pursuit of a financial return their predominant concern, they may also take purely non-financial considerations into account provided that doing so would not involve significant risk of financial detriment to the scheme and where they had good reason to think that scheme members would support their decision

·  engaging with companies to remind them of their responsibilities under the law was important but would have a limited effect in relation to what was being manufactured.

·  Divestment would also have limited effect as the companies were publicly traded so ownership would pass to other shareholders.

·  supply chains were often long involving many companies and divesting from any one company may not lead to the desired outcome as competitors may step in.

·  Defence of the realm and the regulation of UK export licences for weapons was the role of the UK Government

·  recent guidance and legal opinion indicated that it was not appropriate for investment decisions to be made based upon political views.

·  decisions about Fund investments should be made in the best interests of the Fund’s members under the fiduciary duty.

·  42 letters had been received from members supporting divestment, against a membership of 140,000+

·  following this report, a list of companies involved would be considered at a future Responsible Investment Working Party.

·  There were other conflicts where this issue was relevant and defence companies can play a role in social stability.

Members appreciated the detail provided in the report and questioned how it related to international treaties, and also whether the 75% threshold of objection could be practically reached or even identified. It was noted that Fund members could be concerned about any detrimental effects on their retirement funds from divestment.

Councillor Pat Cleary proposed the following additional recommendation: “Given the level of concern expressed by members of Merseyside Pension Fund officers are asked to prepare a report on the steps required and the fiduciary implications of divesting from companies supplying arms to Israel.” This was seconded by Councillor Jo Bird. This was put to the vote and declared lost (two votes for, six against).

Resolved – That Pensions Committee mandates to the effect that Merseyside Pension Fund should not hold investments in companies which manufacture weapons proscribed by international treaty to which the UK government is a signatory.

The Director of Pensions spoke to his report, which provided Members with an update on the progress of the Catalyst investment activities.  It was stated that The Catalyst Fund aimed to support development and refurbishment projects in the Merseyside area that aided the regeneration of the Liverpool City Region and aligned with the economic plans for the area whilst producing a commercial return for the Fund. It was stated that since inception Catalyst Fund had committed over £170 million in 9 assets across direct real estate and infrastructure debt investments and indirectly via private equity fund exposure, diversified across sectors such as residential real estate, commercial real estate, industrial real estate, utilities and SMEs. It was noted that it was likely to be a growing area of the fund and should bring social and environmental benefits.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Director of Pensions presented this report, which provided Members with details of a consultation until 15 January 2025 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in relation to the investments of the Local Government Pension Scheme. There were three elements to the consultation – reform of asset pools with investment strategy carried out by the pool; boosting investment locally; strengthening governance.

Member discussed the transfer of legacy assets and the power to decide on investments. It was noted that if an entity was created regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, it may be feasible for some assets to be managed on a segregated basis.   

Resolved – That:

(1)  the report and the implications of the consultation on MPF and the Northern LGPS be noted.

(2)  the Director of Pensions, in consultation with party spokespersons, be authorised to respond to the consultation on behalf of Merseyside Pension Fund.

(3)  the Director of Pensions, in consultation with party spokespersons, be authorised to work with the Northern GPS (NLGPS) Investment Pool to prepare a report by 1 March setting out how NLGPS proposed to deliver the requirement for an FCA regulated investment manager. 

The Director of Pensions introduced his report, which presented the minutes of Working Parties held since the previous Committee meeting. 

Members noted two amendments:

·  Item 4 of the Responsible Investment Working Party meeting held on 30 October 2024 had included a request for the % return on the investments presented in the report.

·  Item 8 of the Governance and Risk Working Party meeting of 14 November 2024 should have a note stating that substitute Members should also receive an invite to training.

Resolved – That, subject to the amendments noted above, the working party minutes be approved.

The Director of Pensions introduced this report, to inform Members of a pensions review, launched by the Chancellor, with the objective of boosting investment, increasing saver returns and tackling waste in the pensions system. It was noted that the cover report in the agenda was an incorrect version but the appendix was correct providing Members with a copy of the Fund’s response to the consultation. 

Members requested that a presentation be made to Councillors outside of the Committee to inform them about the local and UK investments which were made by the Fund.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Director of Pensions presented his report which provided the Committee with the draft minutes of the previous meeting of the Wirral Local Pension Board.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Wirral Local Pension Board be noted.

The Head of Pensions Administration presented this report, which provided an overview of the Government’s budget announcement on 30th October and the associated impact on stakeholders of the Local Government Pension scheme. There was a single measure regarding pensions tax specifying that unspent defined contribution pension pots including death grants would form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. The Government was proposing to remove the distinction between discretionary and non-discretionary schemes so that all death benefits and unused defined contribution pension pots would form part of the deceased member’s estate This doesn’t apply where the recipient of the death benefits is the deceased members spouse or civil partner as the intent is to align the tax treatment with other types of inherited assets and remove the incentive to use pensions as a tax-planning vehicle for wealth transfer after death. In circumstances where the beneficiary is not the deceased spouse or civil partner this could result in a 40% charge on those benefits where estates were above the inheritance tax threshold. It is anticipated that in 2027/28 - 49,000 estates will face an inheritance tax bill. There will be no requirement from April 2027 for scheme members to complete an ‘Expression of Wish’ form as their death benefits would automatically transfer to their spouse/ civil partner or to probate. It was noted that identifying the value of the estate to determine any tax liability would be labour intensive for both the individual and the administration team.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

RESOLVED – That, under section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by the relevant paragraphs of Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to that Act.  The Public Interest yest had been applied and favoured exclusion. 

Resolved – That, subject to Councillor Sue Powell-Wilde being noted as declaring that both her and her partner were retired members of Merseyside Pension Fund, the minutes of the meeting held on 24^th September 2024 be agreed as a correct record.