Wirral / Merseyside Pension Fund Investments

The request was partially successful.

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,

I would like to request the following information:

1) The full details of what the Merseyside Pension Fund currently invests in, including the name and amounts of each asset class or investment being held.

2) The investments broken down into different categories/types of holding, including: Index Linked Securities, Unit trust Property, Cash Instruments, Unit Trust Equities, Infrastructure, Fixed Interest Securities, Equities Segregated Unlisted, Equities Segregated UK, Equities Segregated Foreign as well as any other investments that the Pension Fund holds.

3) The industrial sector of each investment e.g. Aerospace & Defense, Oil & Gas Producers, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Media, Banks, Mining, Government, Automobiles, Financial Services, Housing and any other sectors that the Pension Fund holds investments in. Examples of Pension Funds which have previously included this data in their publicly released investments include Buckinghamshire and Derbyshire. (i)

4) A full list of all the companies which the Pension Fund currently invests in (this should be covered in the above requests). This list should include the names of each company and the amount invested in each company.

5) Can you clearly specify the total value of all investments that the Pension Fund holds in sterling.

6) 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, can you also provide the password to the excel sheet. When considering the request for this data in excel format, please refer to Innes v Information Commissioner [2014] EWCA Civ 1086 (ii), which allows a requestor 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." (iii)

I would like to receive the information in electronic format. 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 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.' (iv)

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) Buckinghamshire https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2... Derbyshire https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...

(ii) Innes v Information Commissioner [2014] EWCA Civ 1086 http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/...

(iii) Section 11 FOIA and the Form of a Request https://panopticonblog.com/2014/08/01/se...

(iv) 'Freedom of Information Awareness Guidance 5: Commercial Interests' Office of the Information Commissioner, Page 10, https://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/pr...

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please can I get a receipt of my request of 26 June 2020 into pension fund holdings.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Jones

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Jones

 

Further to your recent Freedom of Information request regarding
investments made by Merseyside Pension Fund, please see the attached
spreadsheet which should answer your enquiry

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Lynette Paterson

Principal Information Management Officer

Wirral Council

Treasury Building

Cleveland Street

Birkenhead

Wirral

CH41 1AH

 

Email: [1][Wirral Borough Council request email]

 

Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk

 

 

 

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Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT, Lynette,

Please send me the total investment holding as requested in my original request.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,

Please can you tell me the total holding value.

I did ask for this on Sep 14.

I do need the fig as a matter of urgency - today Nov 7 or by the latest Mon Nov 9.

Many thanks we are putting together a report and ned that fig.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,

Please send the total fig as requested

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Jones

The information requested has been provided. To calculate the total figure you should total the columns using the function within Excel.

Yours sincerely

Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
Treasury Building
Cleveland Street
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 1AH

Email: [Wirral Borough Council request email]

Visit our website: www.wirral.gov.uk

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.

Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,

Ok so the reason I asked for a total which was requested as point 5 back in June, is that there are quite a lot of tabs to go through.

It would be helpful to either have the total at the top of the first tab or in a summary sheet. Then there is something to check against.

So please can you tell me what the total holdings are.

Many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Jones

You have been provided with access to all of the information requested as per our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

It would not be appropriate for Council officers to edit information previously provided some months ago, when Council resources are already stretched. It is for you as the requester to carry out any calculation/manipulation of the data provided to suit your own specific requirements. Wirral Council cannot provide further information with regards to this enquiry.

Yours sincerely

Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
Treasury Building
Cleveland Street
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 1AH

Email: [Wirral Borough Council request email]

Visit our website: www.wirral.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear InfoMgr, FinDMT,

That's fine I haven't got a problem with that and I totally sympathise. I also work in the public sector.

However I've spent another hour totalling the figures you sent me and they come to £5221300442.

Then I went to your accounts 19/20 and discovered your total holdings are £8,632,909,000

So i need to know which is correct and why if its the £8bn fig your data you sent me is definitely incorrect. I say definitely as Ive checked it three times now.

Hence a summary sheet would be really helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Abela-Stevenson, Alex, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

 

I have been told you would like some clarity on your FOI. Apologies I have
not got the FOI in front of me.

 

To confirm you would like the most up to date records of all MPF holdings
which clearly shows the totals. I have looked over what you received and
the information contains everything MPF holds in custody and does not
contain MPF’s external mandates. That is why the totals do not add up.

 

Please let me know,

 

Alex  

 

 

Alex Abela-Stevenson

Senior Investment Analyst

 

Merseyside Pension Fund

Castle Chambers

43 Castle Street

Liverpool

L2 9SH

 

Tel: 0151 242 1302

 

 

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solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
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Dear Abela-Stevenson, Alex,

Ok thanks.
So please send that figure and any data to go with it on an Excel doc.
I'm really needing this information today Nov 13 Fri please.
If you see the thread I did ask for the full information way back in June.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Abela-Stevenson, Alex, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Please see attached

Regards,

Alex

show quoted sections

Dear Abela-Stevenson, Alex,
Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

Dear Abela-Stevenson, Alex,

Ok so I've just totalled all 15 sheets you sent and it comes to £9bn?

The shortfall for the external manadates is suposed to add up to £3bn?

I kinda wish you had just sent me the data with a summary sheet as requested and like tha majority of the 100 LGPSs do. it would make things si much easier.

Please can you resolve this inconsistency for me and explain why the data you just sent hits £9bn.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Jones

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Jones

We note that you have been exchanging correspondence with officers from Merseyside Pension Fund in relation to the information provided under your FOI request.

From an FOI perspective, I am satisfied that Wirral Council has provided you with all of the requested information. Your request was for the total value of the pension fund and this has been provided to you, together with all information pertaining to the fund's holdings. Our initial response provided you with the requested breakdown of all that MPF holds internally (stocks and private market assets) but did not include assets MPF hold in custody, such as external mandates. Following your exchanges with MPF, revised spreadsheets totalling a complete figure of £9bn have been provided, with a breakdown that you have confirmed adds upto the total fund value of £9bn.

Wirral Council, on behalf of MPF, has complied with its FOI obligations and does not intend to enter into any further correspondence on this issue. You retain the right to ask for an internal review under S17 of the FOIA and your right to complain to the Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Yours sincerely

Lynette Paterson
Principal Information Management Officer
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ

Email: [Wirral Borough Council request email]

Visit our website: www.wirral.gov.uk

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager.