Agenda item

To put questions, if any, to the designated Members on the discharge of functions of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11(5).

There were two questions:

1.    Councillor Yasseen: How SYPA reconciles any claim of “responsible investment” with the absence of publicly available reporting that shows:

• how stewardship decisions are made,

• when escalation is used or rejected, and

• how SYPA holds asset managers to account when they vote against Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) backed resolutions?
  
  

Councillor Beresford, one of Rotherham’s representatives on South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, explained that:

• Both SYPA and Border to Coast published Responsible Investment (RI) policies, including corporate governance and voting guidelines, on their websites.

• Quarterly Responsible Investment update reports were presented at full Authority meetings (which were both webcast and published online).

• Voting reports for Border to Coast equity funds and stewardship-related reports were available on Border to Coast’s website.

• SYPA reported against the 12 Principles of the UK Stewardship Code and became a signatory in 2025. The Code was voluntary and being a signatory to the Code demonstrated an investor’s commitment to stewardship and providing transparent reporting on the stewardship they undertook on behalf of their clients and beneficiaries. Border to Coast was also a signatory to the Stewardship Code.

Councillor Beresford understood that Border to Coast’s voting records generally aligned with LAPFF recommendations; any deviations were reported with rationale to SYPA and partner funds. If there were specific issues Councillor Yasseen wished to raise, Councillor Beresford was happy to do this on her behalf.

In her supplementary, Councillor Yasseen stated that the documents referenced were very technical and vaguer than presented. She asked if SYPA could commit to publishing, on an annual basis, a summary of its engagement with LAPFF, a breakdown of how SYPA voted on the forums alerts, and explicit information on whether the pensions fund has diverged its decision making from the forum in terms of escalation of recommendations.

Councillor Beresford confirmed that a written response would be provided.

2.    Councillor Yasseen: Following major incidents such as the Kiveton Industrial Estate fire and the Merseyside BESS fire, has South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority been consulted on emergency access, water supply and containment of contaminated run-off for the proposed Rotherham solar farm?

Councillor Taylor, designated spokesperson for Rotherham on South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority explained that the Authority were not consulted on this as they were not a statutory consultee and the developer was under no obligation to seek their views. However, Councillor Taylor confirmed that the services was aware of the Whitestone proposals and it would remain active in accessing the relevant risks. It would also make any necessary representations.

In her supplementary, Councillor Yaseen stated that she appreciated that it was not a statutory consultee but asked if the fire authority could reassure residents that the risks to public health, air quality and local water courses would be monitored.

Councillor Taylor stated that it was common practice for developers to contact the fire safety officers for advice but this advice was not required to be recorded. In light of the number of queries received in relation to solar panels and battery storage systems, the fire service were producing a factsheet to aid members of the public.