News round-up: LGPS guidance, funding deal for housing, robot help at Enfield and British Museum clashed with Camden over business rates
0Brunel LGPS pool creates oversight arrangements
Brunel is the first of the new LGPS pools to establish an oversight board aimed at increasing transparency and accountability to local committees. It consists of the pension committee chairs of each of the nine LGPS funds involved and the chair of trustees of the Environment Agency Pension Fund. Retired investment consultant and fund manager John Finch has been appointed as independent chair.
CIPFA launches LGPS reporting guidance
The Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy’s pensions panel has produced new guidance on achieving consistent reporting of date within the Local Government Pension Scheme. The guidance aims to ensure data is comparable from one reporting period to another, brings the inclusion of detailed reporting of LGPS management costs within the scope of the external audit regime, provides a sounder basis for comparisons between funds, and underpins the future development of more sophisticated performance metrics which take account of fund size, asset allocation and investment and risk strategy.
Fight at the museum
The British Museum has challenged a £720,000 business rates bill from London Borough of Camden, claiming it should get a discount because it is a charity. The council said that two restaurants and a gift shop inside the museum should be liable for the full rate. The Gallery Café and Great Court Restaurant are run by catering chain Benugo.
Cheyne signs housing association funding deal
A deal worth £25m has been signed Cheyne Capital to help South Yorkshire Housing Association build 219 new homes in Sheffield. The housing association will pay the lender an index-linked rent based on a 20-year lease agreement. Shamez Alibhai, head of the Cheyne Social Property Impact Fund, said: “With housing associations facing increasing challenges across the country, we believe the private sector and patient capital has an important role to play in helping to provide solutions to help with housing delivery.
Enfield recruits customer service ‘robot’
London Borough of Enfield has recruited a “virtual employee” to deal with customer enquiries. The council is working with New York tech firm IPsoft to deploy the robot, named Amelia. James Rolfe, director of finance, resource and customer services at the authority, told the Financial Times that the system was designed so that “customers shouldn’t even notice they’re dealing with Amelia”.
