Croydon Pension Fund Investments
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
I am researching the fossil fuel investments made by UK Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) for an upcoming report by UK Divest. On publication, the report is likely to receive substantial interest from press and the elected representatives sitting on pension fund committees across the UK. Therefore can you please ensure the investment data you provide is as accurate as possible as our analysis will be fundamentally informed by it.
To complete this research, I require data on each investment that was held by Croydon Pension Fund on 31 March 2022, or the nearest possible date:
1. Investment names. Please provide the names of all investments held by the pension fund. For direct investments, please provide the names of individual investments such as specific stocks, bonds, and real estate units. For indirect investments (i.e. those held via a third party), please provide the names of investment vehicles, such as specific mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) and anything else. Note we do not need to know what each indirect investment vehicle invests in as we will determine this in the data analysis.
2. Investment identifiers. For listed investments (i.e. those traded on public exchanges), such as bonds and equities, please provide the International Securities Identifier Number (ISIN). For any investments that do not have an ISIN number, such as some alternative assets, please provide the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). If an investment does not have an identifier, please provide an explanation.
3. Asset types. The asset type for each investment as reported by the pension fund, such as: real estate, cash, private equity, listed equity, sovereign bonds, corporate bonds etc.
4. Investment managers. The name of the entity which is responsible for the day-to-day management of each investment. For example, this could be the name of the entity which manages a specific investment fund such as Baillie Gifford, Legal & General, UBS etc. Note we do not need to know who is responsible for the overall governance of the LGPS or any pools it might belong to.
5. Investment values. The market value of each investment in pounds sterling (£) on 31 March 2022 or the nearest possible date. And please also give the total value of the pension fund.
We have created a read-only Google Sheet as a template for how we would like the data presented when you answer this request. You can view and download it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...
If possible, please use this Google Sheet when answering. Please note there are two tabs - 'summary' and 'data'. Please fill in both tabs. Using the template would help us accurately analyse the data provided.
If you respond promptly and to a satisfactory standard, we will willingly share our analysis with you prior to publication of our report, so you have the chance to comment and benchmark your pension fund against other UK LGPS.
I would like to receive this information in unlocked excel sheets without protected cells (.xls). If you have to password protect the excel sheets, please also provide the password to them. When considering the request for this data in excel format, please refer to Innes v Information Commissioner [2014] EWCA Civ 1086 (i), which allows a requester to express a preference for communication by a particular means, specifically: "an applicant's right to choose to have information provided to him in electronic form extends to a right to choose the software format in which it is embodied." (ii)
Please note:
Many public authorities release their contracts, minutes, and other information of interactions with private vendors in line with the Freedom of Information Act. The exemption for commercial interest under the Act (section 43) is a qualified exemption, which means information can only be withheld if it is in the public's interest. The public have an interest in knowing what the Pension Fund is investing in, the terms of contracts and the minutes of meeting with public authorities, whether or not public money changes hands immediately.
If you are relying on section 41 (the exemption for legal breach of confidence) then I would like to know the following:
* When these confidentiality agreements were agreed
* All correspondence and email in which these confidentiality agreements were discussed
* The precise wording of the confidentiality agreements.
I ask these questions because guidance issued by both the Lord Chancellor (draft guidance on FOI implementation) and the Office of Government Commerce (Model terms and conditions for goods and services) specifically state that public authorities should not enter into these types of agreements; they go directly against the spirit of the laws of disclosure. I would also point to the Information Commissioner's guidance on accepting blanket commercial confidentiality agreements: 'Unless confidentiality clauses are necessary or reasonable, there is a real risk that, in the event of a complaint, the Commissioner would order disclosure in any case.' (iii)
Finally, within the law of confidence there is also a public interest test. Therefore, the information should be disclosed in full. If any parts are redacted, they must be for information that can be proven to be a legal breach of confidence in court, and only then where secrecy can be shown to be in the public interest. These are difficult positions to argue when public money is at stake or where a public authority is offering a private company a monopoly to charge its stakeholders.
I reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to charge excessive fees, and understand that under the act, I am entitled to a response within 20 working days. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.
Yours faithfully,
Edward Jones
(i) Innes v Information Commissioner [2014] EWCA Civ 1086 http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/...
(ii) Section 11 FOIA and the Form of a Request
https://panopticonblog.com/2014/08/01/se...
(iii) 'Freedom of Information Awareness Guidance 5: Commercial Interests' Office of the Information Commissioner, Page 10 https://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/pr...
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.
DEAR Edward Jones
Freedom of information request - FOI/7215
Subject: Croydon Pension Fund Investments
Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.
If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.
Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully.
Kind Regard
Information Management Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
7th Floor, Zone B
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Freedom of information request - FOI/7215
Dear Information Management Team,
Thanks for you response on March 16.
We have not received any data from you as of today June 13 2023.
I am hoping this can be dealt with as a clarification rather than internal review as time is now of the essence.
Our original request is here:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c....
We are working on a nationally significant, positive project to promote renewable energy investment and divestment from the stranded assets of fossil fuels.
Please note that the vast majority of the UK's LGPSs have provided requested details for all investments (e.g. Gwynedd Pension Fund https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/g...). I can provide many more examples of other pension funds providing all of the requested data on request. The downloadable template spreadsheet we provided in the original FOI request also shows exactly what information we want: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...
Our deadline is June 19 so we would be eternally grateful if you could get the data to us in the required format as soon as humanly possible.
Yours sincerely,
Edward Jones
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.
Dear Edward Jones
FOI/7215
Subject: Croydon Pension Fund Investments
Thank you for your e-mail. Please accept our apologies for the delay in
responding to you.
We can confirm that the relevant service who hold this information are
working on your request and are aware of the urgency and that it is now
overdue. We are monitoring its progress and as soon as we receive this
information from them we forward this onto you.
Should we have any further delays we will keep you informed.
Further information about your rights to information is available from the
Information Commissioner's Office at www.ico.org.uk
Kind Regard
Information Management Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
7th Floor, Zone B
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Dear Information Team,
Thanks for your reply.
It's fine as ong as we can get the data as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Edward Jones
Dear Information Management Team, [email address],
Please can you answer the last two emails I have sent.
This one is regarding the summation table of your holdings on page 4 https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/documen...
Your have the total as 1,727,895,000 which is incorrect the total is actually 1,727,892,000.
Yours sincerely,
Edward Jones
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.
Dear Edward Jones
FOI/7215
Subject: Croydon Pension Fund Investments
Thank you for your e-mail. Please accept our apologies for the delay in
responding to your request.
We have again chased the service that holds this information and have also
informed the relevant director. We are continuing to monitor the progress
of this request and as soon as we receive this information from the
service we will forward this onto you.
Further information about your rights to information is available from the
Information Commissioner's Office at www.ico.org.uk
Kind Regard
Information Management Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
7th Floor, Zone B
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Dear Information team, [email address],
Please can you reply to this query as soon as possible.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
I understand you are in touch with the Director and relevant services.
It is highly important work we are doing: a Government lobbying campaign looking at divestment from the burning of oil gas and coal and investment in renewables,
Yours sincerely,
Edward Jones
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]
Dear Edward Jones
Request FOI/7215
Further to your request received on 16/03/2023, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your
request. Specifically, you have requested the following information:
"I am researching the fossil fuel investments made by UK Local Government
Pension Schemes (LGPS) for an upcoming report by UK Divest. On
publication, the report is likely to receive substantial interest from
press and the elected representatives sitting on pension fund committees
across the UK. Therefore can you please ensure the investment data you
provide is as accurate as possible as our analysis will be fundamentally
informed by it.
To complete this research, I require data on each investment that was held
by Croydon Pension Fund on 31 March 2022, or the nearest possible date:
1. Investment names. Please provide the names of all investments held by
the pension fund. For direct investments, please provide the names of
individual investments such as specific stocks, bonds, and real estate
units. For indirect investments (i.e. those held via a third party),
please provide the names of investment vehicles, such as specific mutual
funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and real estate investment trusts
(REITs) and anything else. Note we do not need to know what each indirect
investment vehicle invests in as we will determine this in the data
analysis.
2. Investment identifiers. For listed investments (i.e. those traded on
public exchanges), such as bonds and equities, please provide the
International Securities Identifier Number (ISIN). For any investments
that do not have an ISIN number, such as some alternative assets, please
provide the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). If an investment does not have
an identifier, please provide an explanation.
3. Asset types. The asset type for each investment as reported by the
pension fund, such as: real estate, cash, private equity, listed equity,
sovereign bonds, corporate bonds etc.
4. Investment managers. The name of the entity which is responsible for
the day-to-day management of each investment. For example, this could be
the name of the entity which manages a specific investment fund such as
Baillie Gifford, Legal & General, UBS etc. Note we do not need to know who
is responsible for the overall governance of the LGPS or any pools it
might belong to.
5. Investment values. The market value of each investment in pounds
sterling (£) on 31 March 2022 or the nearest possible date. And please
also give the total value of the pension fund."
Please see data attached.
The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)
To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:
[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)
If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:
Email: [2][Croydon Borough Council request email]
Writing: Information Team
London Borough of Croydon
Bernard Weatherill House
Floor 7 - Zone B
8 Mint Walk
Croydon, CR0 1EA
Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Information Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House,
Mint Walk,
Croydon,
CR0 1EA
[3][Croydon Borough Council request email]
[4][email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
3. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
4. mailto:[email address]
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