Local authority pension fund investments in an XLS spreadsheet

The request was successful.

Dear Falkirk Council,

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act I would like to request the following information as an XLS (Microsoft Excel) spreadsheet.

1. List of investments of the local authority pension fund

Please provide a list of the Falkirk Council Pension Fund’s investments for the end of the 2015-16 financial year, or if this is not available, the most recently available data, in an XLS spreadsheet.

For each investment, please provide the asset class. For equity investments please include the full name of individual equities, the quantity of each share held, and the total and unit value of each equity.

2. Fund managers

Please provide a list of any external managers and/or advisors employed by the local authority for the purposes of managing pension fund assets, with a copy of the corresponding procurement brief and the total cost of their services for the corresponding financial year.

For your information please note this data is being requested as part of a research project organised by Friends of the Earth Scotland, Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), 350.org, Community Re:Invest and Platform London.

Yours faithfully,

Flick Monk
Researcher on Unconventional Fossil Fuels
Friends of the Earth Scotland
(+44) 0131 243 2706

Finance Services, Falkirk Council

I acknowledge receipt of your information request dated 10 November 2016.

We have 20 working days to deal with your request from the date that we receive it, but hope to provide you with the information you are looking for at an earlier date, where possible.

Finance Services, Falkirk Council

1 Attachment

Dear Felicity Monk

I refer to your e-mail from 10.11.2016 and now attach information about fund investments for the end of the 2015-16 financial year.

In relation to point 2, please find below link to the 15-16 Annual Accounts where information that you have requested can be found.

http://www.falkirkpensionfund.org/themes...
Procurement briefs for external fund managers have been prepared by the Fund’s external advisors and are commercially sensitive . Therefore, the Council is claiming the following exemption to the information that you have requested. Section 33(1)(b) exempts information if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person (including, without prejudice to that generality, a Scottish public authority). The Council considers that disclosure of this information would prejudice substantially the commercial interests of both the Council and the external advisor.
Although there is a clear public interest in the Council promoting transparency and accountability through the disclosure of information relating to the Falkirk Council Pension Fund, in this instance the public interest is best served by withholding the information. Disclosure of commercially sensitive information would cause substantial harm to both the Falkirk Council Pension Fund and the external advisors.
Please refer to the enclosed leaflet which explains your right to complain about the handling of your case and/or the decision made.

Finance Services, Falkirk Council

1 Attachment