Property holdings in Pension Fund

The request was successful.

Dear Suffolk County Council,

I would like to request the following information:

1) The full details of what real estate assets the Suffolk Pension Fund currently invests in, including the name and amounts of each type of real estate asset or investment being held.

This information should be broken down into the different
categories, including:
- Listed Real Estate securities;
Unlisted/Private Real Estate Property Funds/vehicles, companies or CIS;
- Directly held properties ; and
- (listed/unlisted) Real Estate Debt Funds/vehicles.

In the case of any unlisted real estate vehicles or real estate debt vehicles, the domicile of the underlying assets should be included.

A full list of all the companies, vehicles, CIS etc in which the Pension Fund invests in or has an outstanding commitment to should be covered in the above question. This list should include the names of each company and the amount invested in each company etc.

2) The current yields of the different investments the pension fund holds.

3) Can you clearly specify the total value of all real estate investments that the Pension Fund holds.

4) I would like to receive this information in an unlocked excel sheet without protected cells (.xls). If you have to password protect the excel sheet, please can you also provide the password to the excel
sheet.
5) Please supply a copy of the Pension Scheme’s latest Statement of Investment Principles and most recent Pension Fund Report & Accounts.
I would like to receive the information in electronic format if possible. If one part of the request can be answered sooner than others, please send that information first followed by any subsequent data. If you need further clarification, please contact me by email.

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 confidentially 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.'(i)

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,

Samuel Hall

Freedom of Information, Suffolk County Council

INFORMATION REQUEST – ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thank you for your request, here is your reference number 17585. Please quote this in any future correspondence you may have with us.

We will process your request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 as appropriate. We aim to answer your request within 20 working days from the date we received it.

While no charges are made for the submission of requests, the council is entitled to apply reasonable costs for disbursements (i.e. photocopying, postage etc).  Where such costs are under £5.00 the council is pleased to make no charge, however, if costs exceed that limit then these additional costs are payable to the council.  Where charges will apply proper notice will be given to you prior to the information being released.  For more information on charges please use the following link to our website: http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/about/freedom-...

If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact us.  Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

Vanessa
Business Support Officer
Performance and Information Management
Suffolk County Council
Constantine House
Constantine Road
Ipswich
IP1 2DH

Tel: 01473 264814
Fax: 01473 216843
For FOI Requests Email: [email address]
For Data Protection Email: [email address]
Web: www.suffolk.gov.uk

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Freedom of Information, Suffolk County Council

1 Attachment

 

INFORMATION REQUEST RESPONSE

 

Thank you for your request for information, reference number 17585. Please
quote this in any future correspondence you may have with us.

 

Please find attached a copy of our response to the information you
requested.

 

Most information supplied by Suffolk County Council will have been
produced within the Council and will continue to be protected by
copyright.  You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for
private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose
authorised by an exception in current copyright law.  Documents (except
photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for
the purposes of news reporting.  Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.

 

If the information you have been sent includes a copyright statement, you
must not alter or remove this statement.  For information about re-using
copyright see the Office of Public Sector Information website at
[1]www.opsi.gov.uk.  The copyright in some documents may rest with a third
party.  For information about obtaining permission from a third party see
the Intellectual Property Office’s website at [2]www.ipo.gov.uk.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the way your request has been handled, you
have the right to ask for an internal review.  Under Regulation 11(2),
internal review requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the
date of this letter and should be sent to: Information Management
Services, Constantine House, Constantine Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 2DH
or, alternatively, by email at [3][email address].

 

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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