Financial Links with or Investment in Nuclear Weapons

The request was successful.

Dear Southwark Borough Council,

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I'd be most grateful if you can provide me with the following information:

1) Whether your pension fund(s) has any exclusion criteria against indiscriminate weapons, weapons of mass destruction, or nuclear weapons
1a) What such exclusion criteria are, if any
1b) The amount invested in your pension fund

Please be advised: if another body is responsible for pension provisions, I would still like a response to the questions below.

I would also like a response to the questions below if you ARE responsible for your own pension.

2) Whether you hold any non-pension investments in funds, and whether they have any exclusion criteria against indiscriminate weapons, weapons of mass destruction, or nuclear weapons
2a) What such exclusion criteria are, if any
2b) What amount is currently invested

3) A list of banks currently holding funds for you and an approximate amount held by each bank.

4) Whether the council has any internal exclusion policies relating to investment in, or banking with institution that are financially linked with, indiscriminate weapons, weapons of mass destructions, or nuclear weapons.
4a) What such exclusion policies are

Yours faithfully,
Simon Ramacci

Southwark Council, Southwark Borough Council

Southwark Council - Information request
 
Our reference: 3861005  
 
 
Dear Simon Ramacci
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 6 April
2022.

The request is as follows:

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I'd be most
grateful if you can provide me with the following information:

1) Whether your pension fund(s) has any exclusion criteria against
indiscriminate weapons, weapons of mass destruction, or nuclear weapons
1a) What such exclusion criteria are, if any
1b) The amount invested in your pension fund

Please be advised: if another body is responsible for pension provisions,
I would still like a response to the questions below.

I would also like a response to the questions below if you ARE responsible
for your own pension.

2) Whether you hold any non-pension investments in funds, and whether they
have any exclusion criteria against indiscriminate weapons, weapons of
mass destruction, or nuclear weapons
2a) What such exclusion criteria are, if any
2b) What amount is currently invested

3) A list of banks currently holding funds for you and an approximate
amount held by each bank.

4) Whether the council has any internal exclusion policies relating to
investment in, or banking with institution that are financially linked
with, indiscriminate weapons, weapons of mass destructions, or nuclear
weapons.
4a) What such exclusion policies are 

 
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 9 May 2022.
 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
 
We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Hanna Gibson
Corporate Information Governance Officer
Finance & Governance
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Southwark Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
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Southwark Council.
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have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Southwark Council
cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use
of this email or attachments.

Dear Southwark Council,

It is my understanding that the statutory deadline for a response has now passed.
Please, could you advise when you expect to have the information I requested?

Yours sincerely,
Simon Ramacci

Gibson, Hanna, Southwark Borough Council

Dear Simon

Thank you for your email.

I am afraid that I have yet to receive the information you are seeking back from the service.

I have chased this up and will respond as soon as I receive the information.

I sincerely apologise for the delay and any inconvenience caused.

Kind Regards

Hanna Gibson
Corporate Information Governance Officer - Law & Governance

London Borough of Southwark
160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH
Southwark Council, Law & Governance 2nd floor hub 1, PO Box 64529, London SE1P 5LX
Web: www.southwark.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Southwark Council, Southwark Borough Council

Southwark Council - Information request
 
Our reference: 3861005  
 
 
Dear Simon Ramacci
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I am writing in regard to your FOI request, reference 3861005. Once again,
I sincerely apologise for the delay in responding. 
 
The service have now reviewed your request, and have asked for
clarification on your questions.  I am therefore writing to ask you to
clarify the below. 
 
1/ In regard to Question 1b, the service they have asked for clarification
on how such investments should be classified. This is because companies
that invest in such weapons are not immediately identifiable in terms of
sectors. Hence, do you have a standard list of companies that you classify
as being involved in such activities, or is there a specific earnings
threshold that should be applied to companies classified as being involved
in this area?

2/ In terms of non pension-investments, are you referring to
council/treasury investments?

3/ Does your request include both the pension fund and the council?
 
If you can please respond to the above queries, we will take your request
forward.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Hanna Gibson
Corporate Information Governance Officer
Finance & Governance
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Southwark Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Southwark Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Southwark Council
cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use
of this email or attachments.

Dear Southwark Council,

Thanky you for getting back to me with your requests for clarification

Q1: Please limit the scope of this to the funds' state ESG / SRI criteria, do not worry about exposure. If a fund has exclusions for "armaments / weapons" consider this to include nuclear weapons, if there is no state exclusion about nuclear weapons or weapons/armaments in general, then please report this as a no exclusion.

Q2: Any money that is held on behalf of the council in non-cash form which does not belong to pensions. Usually this is MMF, guilds, bonds, or other funds, but not any notice accounts or cash accounts held in either GBP or other currency

Q3: Just the council.

Thank you
Yours sincerely,
Simon Ramacci

Southwark Borough Council

Southwark Council - Information request
 
Our reference: 3861005  
 
 
Dear Simon Ramacci
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I am writing in regard to your FOI request, reference 3861005. Once again,
I sincerely apologise for the delay in responding. 
 
The service have now reviewed your request, and have asked for
clarification on your questions.  I am therefore writing to ask you to
clarify the below. 
 
1/ In regard to Question 1b, the service they have asked for clarification
on how such investments should be classified. This is because companies
that invest in such weapons are not immediately identifiable in terms of
sectors. Hence, do you have a standard list of companies that you classify
as being involved in such activities, or is there a specific earnings
threshold that should be applied to companies classified as being involved
in this area?

2/ In terms of non pension-investments, are you referring to
council/treasury investments?

3/ Does your request include both the pension fund and the council?
 
If you can please respond to the above queries, we will take your request
forward.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Hanna Gibson
Corporate Information Governance Officer
Finance & Governance
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Southwark Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Southwark Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Southwark Council
cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use
of this email or attachments.

Dear Southwark Borough Council,

Question 1B: This would be the total amount invested by your pension fund, not just the amount invested in nuclear weapons.

Question 2: Any investment held by or on behalf of the Council that are not part of the pension fund. This usually includes any amounts held with the DMO, any MMF, and any investment funds.

Question 3: This does NOT include the pension fund, only money held by banks on behalf of the Council for non-pension purposes. This is usually current and saving accounts.

I hope this answers your questions.

Yours faithfully,
Simon Ramacci

Dear Southwark Borough Council,

It has now been 12 working days since I clarified my request. Please, could you provide me with an update?

Yours faithfully,
Simon Ramacci

Southwark Council, Southwark Borough Council

1 Attachment

Southwark Council - Information request
 
Our reference: 3861005  
 
 
Dear Simon
 
Please find attached response to your FOI.
Yours faithfully
 
 
Hanna Gibson
Corporate Information Governance Officer
Finance & Governance
[email address]
 
Southwark Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Southwark Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Southwark Council
cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use
of this email or attachments.