The London Borough of Lambeth has been forced to reveal its main pension fund investments by a request under Freedom of Information (FoI) rules by campaigner Michael Johnson. He is planning to reveal details of all London Borough's pension find investments in the near future.
Lambeth's attitude towards pension investments seems to be focused simply towards making the biggest possible return on their money. The borough's meagre gestures towards an ethical investment policy merely states that 'engagement' with corporations (i.e. giving them money and possibly writing the odd letter as well) holds 'the potential to benefit society and the environment, as well as in assisting in poverty reduction'[1]. Quite how British American Tobacco can assist in poverty reduction remains unclear, unless Lambeth's financial controllers think that working on a tobacco plantation is a good job.
Other Lambeth pension fund investments include £1,560,340 worth of shares in arms company Bae Systems; £2,159,739 in Iraq profiteer Weir and £1,129,485 in nuclear power company British Energy. Why not submit a FoI request regarding your own local authority's (LA) pension fund? A FoI simply needs to be a request, in writing (on paper or email), to the relevant department, stating that the request is being made under the FOI act 2000 and asking for the top 100 equities invested in by the LA's pension fund and the values dated as recently as possible. To find who to contact, go to the Local Authority's website and for the A-Z of services index – there should be one under FoI. There will either be a special form, if not there should be an email contact. They must respond to your request within 20 days, and if it is refused the local authority must show how this refusal serves the public interest. For more info on submitting a FoI see www.yrtk.org – and many thanks to Michael Johnson for his trailblazing work. References
[1] Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee 09 May 2007, Sustainable and Responsible Investment Policy, Ethical Finance Pdf
| 1 | Vodaphone | £22,502,282 |
| 2 | Shell Oil | £15,063,120 |
| 3 | GlaxoSmithKline | £13,382,995 |
| 4 | HSBC | £12,154,027 |
| 5 | BP | £10,529,856 |
| 6 | TESCO | £7,924,254 |
| 7 | Royal Bank of Scotland | £7,431,204 |
| 8 | British American Tobacco | £6,333,843 |
| 9 | Barclays | £6,095,280 |
| 10 | Halifax/Bank of Scotland | £5,617,773 |
Other Lambeth pension fund investments include £1,560,340 worth of shares in arms company Bae Systems; £2,159,739 in Iraq profiteer Weir and £1,129,485 in nuclear power company British Energy. Why not submit a FoI request regarding your own local authority's (LA) pension fund? A FoI simply needs to be a request, in writing (on paper or email), to the relevant department, stating that the request is being made under the FOI act 2000 and asking for the top 100 equities invested in by the LA's pension fund and the values dated as recently as possible. To find who to contact, go to the Local Authority's website and for the A-Z of services index – there should be one under FoI. There will either be a special form, if not there should be an email contact. They must respond to your request within 20 days, and if it is refused the local authority must show how this refusal serves the public interest. For more info on submitting a FoI see www.yrtk.org – and many thanks to Michael Johnson for his trailblazing work. References
[1] Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee 09 May 2007, Sustainable and Responsible Investment Policy, Ethical Finance Pdf