Tobacco investments held by local authority pension fund

The request was partially successful.

Dear Cheshire West and Chester Council,

I am seeking information about the value of the local authority pension fund’s investment in tobacco shares and bonds, as well as the income from those investments. Please provide whatever answers you can to the following.

1. What is the most recent available value of the local authority's pension fund?

2. What is the value of the fund’s directly-held investment in shares or bonds of the following companies: British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International, Altria Group Inc, Philip Morris International, Universal Corp, Alliance One International?

3. What is the total combined value of the fund’s directly-held investments in the companies named above?

4. What income did the fund receive from these investments in the last 12-month period for which records are available?

5. Does the fund have any other investments in tobacco via pooled investments? What is the value of these?

6. What is the local authority’s annual spend on smoking-related illness?

7. Please supply the number of deaths attributable to smoking in the local authority areas covered by your pension fund. Your Director of Public Health or equivalent should be able to supply this figure.

If you require clarification on any of the above questions, please get in touch on 0203 353 3616, or 07415154041 or email me at [email address]

Yours faithfully,

Rob Davies

Cheshire West and Chester Council

Case Reference: 101004801835
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RE: Your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Case Reference: 101004801835

Dear Mr Davies

Thank you for your email.

It will be treated as a request within the meaning of the Act: this means that we will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it.

If we need any further clarification or there is any problem we will be in touch.

In the meantime if you wish to discuss this further please contact FOI West. It would be helpful if you could quote the log number.

Yours sincerely

FOI Unit

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FOI West, Cheshire West and Chester Council

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    Cheshire Pension Fund LGIM Passive Index Holding as at 31 March 2018.xlsx

    199K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Davies

Thank you for your request for information of 17th of April 2018 which has
been logged as 4801835 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We confirm that Cheshire West and Chester Council
holds information relating to your request.

For the purpose of clarity your request has been reproduced below:

I am seeking information about the value of the local authority pension
fund’s investment in tobacco shares and bonds, as well as the income from
those investments. Please provide whatever answers you can to the
following.

1. What is the most recent available value of the local authority's
pension fund?

As at 31 December 2017 the total value of the Cheshire Pension Fund was
£5.333bn.

2. What is the value of the fund’s directly-held investment in shares or
bonds of the following companies: British American Tobacco, Imperial
Brands, Japan Tobacco International, Altria Group Inc, Philip Morris
International, Universal Corp, Alliance One International?

Zero as at 31 December 2017

3. What is the total combined value of the fund’s directly-held
investments in the companies named above?

Zero as at 31 December 2017

4. What income did the fund receive from these investments in the last
12-month period for which records are available?

Zero as at 31 December 2017

5. Does the fund have any other investments in tobacco via pooled
investments? What is the value of these?

The Cheshire Pension Fund Invests in 2 equity index funds managed by Legal
and General Investment Management (LGIM). The investment objective for
LGIM is to passively track the appropriate equity index. As the Pension
Fund investment is in units of the LGIM funds, it does not directly own
the underlying company equities. However, the implied holding from a look
through of the units held is as shown on the attached sheet. The total
value of these units is less than half of one per cent of the Fund’s total
assets.   In addition, the Fund holds units in a Bond Fund managed by
Janus Henderson. As above, the equivalent look through to the underlying
bonds equates to an implied holding of £109,903 in Philip Morris
International.

6. What is the local authority’s annual spend on smoking-related illness?

Cheshire West and Chester do not hold costs associated with Smoking
related illnesses. This would be costs associated with the Clinical
Commissioning Group or other partners.

7. Please supply the number of deaths attributable to smoking in the local
authority areas covered by your pension fund. Your Director of Public
Health or equivalent should be able to supply this figure.

We do not hold information of deaths attributable to smoking in the local
authority areas covered by the pension fund, only those covered by
Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC). Therefore the information below
is a collation of data spanning the period 2013-15 but relates to (CWAC)
and not the pension fund as a whole.

Cheshire West and Chester: Number
Smoking attributable deaths from heart disease (Persons, aged 35+) 153
(2013-15)
Smoking attributable deaths from stroke (Persons, aged 35+) (2013-15) 43
Deaths from lung cancer (Persons, all ages) (2013-15) 629
Deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Persons, all ages) 474
(2013-15)
1299

We trust this answers your query.

The Council considers that your request has been answered in full by
either confirming that information is not held, providing you with the
information requested, or explaining why any information has been withheld
and the reasons for any redaction. Where applicable, the Council has also
told you the reasons for the delay in responding to your request.

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled you can request a review by writing to the Information Disclosures
Team within 40 working days from the date of the Council’s response.

You are entitled to a review by the Council if:

•          You are dissatisfied with the Council’s explanation of why the
application was not dealt with within the 20 working day time limit.

•          All the information requested is not being disclosed and you
have not received an explanation why some information is not being
disclosed.

•          A reason for the disclosures under the request being refused is
not received.

•          You consider that exemptions have been wrongly applied, and/or

•          You consider that a fee has been wrongly applied.

Please set out your grounds for seeking a review together with what
specific part of your request those grounds apply to and the outcome you
are seeking. The Council reserves the right to ask you for clarification
of the grounds for your review request if the grounds are not clear, and
to delay commencing the review if such grounds are not provided.

The Information Disclosures Team can be contacted by email via: [Cheshire
West and Chester Council request email] or at the following address:

Information Governance

Cheshire West and Chester Council

HQ

58 Nicholas Street

Chester

CH1 2NP

The Information Disclosures Team will acknowledge a request for an
internal review within 5 working days and complete the review as soon as
possible and no later than 40 working days from receipt of the request.

More information about the Council’s internal review process can be found
via:

http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk...

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your review, you have
a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Website: www.ico.org.uk

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely

Information Governance

Cheshire West and Chester Council

PD (INH)

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