Dear Hammersmith and Fulham 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 Hammersmith & Fulham 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...

Dear London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham,

FOI ref: 7745453

Many thanks for your response and help with this.

I am hoping that this can be dealt with as a clarification, and not a internal review, to ensure a quicker response. Please let me know if an internal review is necessary.

In your reply you said:

"Please see the link below explaining the reason for the delay in publishing the requested information:

"Notification of delay of publication of final 2021-22 statement of accounts | LBHF
https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/councillors-and-...

"I can confirm that London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham holds the information you requested. However, we are withholding that information since we consider that the following exemptions apply to it.

"The information is exempt from disclosure under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA). There is a clear intention to publish the information at a future date and in line with section 22(1)(c) it is considered reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date of publication.

"To use this exemption, we are required to undertake a public interest test. The matters which were considered in applying the public interest test are as follows:

"Factors in favour of disclosure

• H&F is committed to recognise there is a strong public interest to demonstrate openness, transparency and accountability with regards to the Freedom of Information legislation particularly in relation to an individual's right to know.
• We recognise that disclosure would provide reassurance that the Council is processing the requests that it receives in a timely manner particularly as it would indicate how we are meeting our obligations as outline in the provisions of the FoI Act"

"Factors in favour of withholding

• The Council is committed to publishing information however we do not consider that it is in the public interest to place the remaining requested information into the public domain, prematurely, before pre-publication procedures have taken place.

"It is considered that the greater public interest therefore lies in not providing the information at this time. In coming to that conclusion, the public interest in providing the information has been carefully weighed against any prejudice to the public interest that might arise from withholding the information; in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

"This response therefore acts as a refusal notice under section 17 of the FoIA."

My clarification request:

Before I go down the internal review route, can you please let me know when you are planning to publish this information? We requested investment data from 31 March 2022, which is now over a year old. The Notification of delay of publication that you linked to is from 30 November 2022 - now almost five months old.

Currently we are sending FOIs to all LGPS and their pools in the UK - so far almost all of them of them have provided investment data for 31 March 2022 (we are still waiting on some to respond).

I am hoping you can prioritise or speed -up pre-publication procedures to ensure it is published as soon as possible. We plan to analyse the data from all LGPS in the country in the next few months, so need it as soon as possible.

It would be great if you could go back to whoever is in charge of pre-publication procedures and ask when they expect to publish the data, and if there is any chance they can speed up publishing it?

Please bear in mind when I last made a FOI asking for Hammersmith Pension Fund Investments in June 2020 (see https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h... ), you provided me investment data for March and June 2022 - a much smaller time gap between our request and the investments than what we are currently asking for. So you have precedent of releasing investment data with much smaller time gaps between the original request and the date of investments than what we are currently asking for.

Finally, many thanks again for your help with this. And as mentioned in the original request: "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."

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham,

FOI ref: 7745453

Just following up from my last message from earlier today.

I meant to say: "you provided me investment data for March and June 2020" instead of "you provided me investment data for March and June 2022 " at the end of the last message.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Ref: 7745453

Dear Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews. Originally we have been dealing with Paul Johnson Investigations Information Officer.

I am writing to request an internal review of Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Hammersmith & Fulham Pension Fund Investments'.

We are engaged in a project looking to decrease LGPS investment in fossil fuels and increase investments in renewables for the benefit of all Londoners and UK citizens.

So far the majority of the 98 LGPS have responded with the data we require. Indeed another west London borough, Harrow has done so: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

In your replies you stated the information would be ready by July 2023. Our project deadline was deliberately set at June 26 to give LGPSs the time to get us the required information.

Our desired outcome from this internal review is that you could kindly provide us with the information as much before June 26 as possible. Even if it is in draft format that would help us greatly.

In your replies you also mention:
"Please see the link below explaining the reason for the delay in publishing the requested information:

"Notification of delay of publication of final 2021-22 statement of accounts | LBHF
https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/councillors-and-...

"I can confirm that London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham holds the information you requested. However, we are withholding that information since we consider that the following exemptions apply to it.

"The information is exempt from disclosure under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA). There is a clear intention to publish the information at a future date and in line with section 22(1)(c) it is considered reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date of publication.

"To use this exemption, we are required to undertake a public interest test. The matters which were considered in applying the public interest test are as follows:

"Factors in favour of disclosure

• H&F is committed to recognise there is a strong public interest to demonstrate openness, transparency and accountability with regards to the Freedom of Information legislation particularly in relation to an individual's right to know.
• We recognise that disclosure would provide reassurance that the Council is processing the requests that it receives in a timely manner particularly as it would indicate how we are meeting our obligations as outline in the provisions of the FoI Act"

"Factors in favour of withholding

• The Council is committed to publishing information however we do not consider that it is in the public interest to place the remaining requested information into the public domain, prematurely, before pre-publication procedures have taken place.

"It is considered that the greater public interest therefore lies in not providing the information at this time. In coming to that conclusion, the public interest in providing the information has been carefully weighed against any prejudice to the public interest that might arise from withholding the information; in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

"This response therefore acts as a refusal notice under section 17 of the FoIA."

My response and kind request to this is that we requested investment data from 31 March 2022, which is now over a year old. The Notification of delay of publication that you linked to is from 30 November 2022 - now almost five months old.

When I last made an FOI request asking for Hammersmith Pension Fund Investments in June 2020 (see https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h... ), you provided me investment data for March and June 2020 - a much smaller time gap between our request and the investments than what we are currently asking for. So you have precedent of releasing investment data with much smaller time gaps between the original request and the date of investments than what we are currently asking for.

Finally, thanks in advance for considering this appeal on our behalf and as mentioned in the original request: "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."

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear Adeyemi Tiamiyu,

Our deadline for this project Is June 19.

Please could you kindly get us the information before then.

This project is a vital tool to promote renewable energy investments and divestment from fossil fuels by public sector pensions.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear Adeyemi Tiamiyu
Senior Information Management Officer
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham,

Please send the restricted email to [email address]
and I will access it there.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear Adeyemi Tiamiyu FOIA London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham,

Please can you tell me when you have sent the restricted email to the [email address] address.

And please send any restricted emails to this address from now on.

Thanks and please can you re-send to that address as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear Ademyemi, FOIA, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham,

Please can you reply as per my last email on July 6. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Thanks in advance.

This is a highly important Gov-lobbying project we are working on to ascertain the levels of investment in oil gas and coal and promoting an immediate switch to renewable energy investments

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones