Asked by: Paul Uppal (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage local authority pension funds to become signatories to the Stewardship Code.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Each local authority that administers a pension fund is already subject to statutory guidance that states that it should recognise the Financial Reporting Council's Stewardship Code and ensure that the Code is adopted by their fund managers, investment consultants and advisers. The guidance also states that the authority should include a statement of its policy on responsible ownership in its statement of the principles governing its investment decisions and report periodically to scheme members on the implementation of the policy. Sixteen of the eighty nine local government pension funds in England and Wales are themselves signatories to the Stewardship Code as asset owners.
Asked by: Paul Uppal (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage local authority pension funds to become active owners or stewards of their assets as defined in the Financial Reporting Council's Stewardship Code.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Each local authority that administers a pension fund is already subject to statutory guidance that states that it should recognise the Financial Reporting Council's Stewardship Code and ensure that the Code is adopted by their fund managers, investment consultants and advisers. The guidance also states that the authority should include a statement of its policy on responsible ownership in its statement of the principles governing its investment decisions and report periodically to scheme members on the implementation of the policy. Sixteen of the eighty nine local government pension funds in England and Wales are themselves signatories to the Stewardship Code as asset owners.
Asked by: Paul Uppal (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the need for local authority pension schemes to integrate environmental, social and governance issues into their investment decision-making.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
These issues are matters for individual local authorities that administer pension funds to consider when deciding upon their investment strategies. Each administering authority is required to publish a statement of principles, which should address such issues. Statutory guidance states that the authority must report periodically to scheme members on the implementation of their policies.
Notwithstanding, local authorities need to focus on delivering a good rate of return for their fund and value for taxpayers, given local government pensions cost taxpayers (via employer contributions) almost £6 billion a year.