The government does not prescribe centrally where local government pension funds should invest their assets. Funds are responsible and accountable for their own decisions, provided that they act reasonably and follow the Local Government Pension Scheme Investment Regulations 2016 and associated guidance.
Local government pension funds should make the pursuit of a financial return their predominant concern but they may also take into account purely non-financial considerations provided that doing so would not involve a significant risk of financial detriment and they have good reason to believe that scheme members would support their decision.
Funds are required to set out their policy on how environmental, social or corporate governance concerns are taken into account in their Investment Strategy Statement. The Regulations also require this statement to be published and kept under review.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4483", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Rishi Sunak"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Richmond (Yorks)"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Rishi Sunak"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-01-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-01-22T16:55:52.03Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2018-01-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Local Government: Pension Funds"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on local government pension funds being used to invest in fossil fuels; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1506", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Gwynne"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Denton and Reddish"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andrew Gwynne"}
], "uin" : "122457"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/800947", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Communities and Local Government"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/800947/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Under the Investment Regulations 2016, administering authorities in the Local Government Pension Scheme are no longer constrained by central prescription on how their assets are invested provided investments are in the best interests of scheme members. They now have much greater freedom to invest, subject to local democratic control and appropriate safeguards, and significant investment in new housing has already been made.<\/p>
Our Housing White Paper encourages further investment more widely in housing, including shared ownership, through creating a stable financial environment in which to invest.<\/p>
As a result, pension schemes are increasingly regarding housing as an appropriate investment. The pooling of local government pension funds will increase opportunities for their assets to be used to support infrastructure projects, including housing. This could generate promising returns for scheme members while maintaining value for money for national and local taxpayers.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4014", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Reading West"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Alok Sharma"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-12-18", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-12-18T11:53:55.957Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-12-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Local Government: Pension Funds"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that local government pension funds can invest in areas such as new build shared ownership.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4679", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Neil O'Brien"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Harborough"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Neil O'Brien"} ], "uin" : "117506"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/595437", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Communities and Local Government"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/595437/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
I will place copies of the final proposals on local government pension scheme pooling in the Library of the House.<\/p>
Investment cost data was provided by CEM Benchmarking to the individual administering authorities and is not held by my Department.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Marcus Jones"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Nuneaton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Marcus Jones"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2016-10-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2016-10-12T14:35:34.593Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2016-10-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Local Government: Pension Funds"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make available to the hon. Member for Easington, in electronic form, (a) all Local Government Pension Scheme pooling bids and (b) the investment cost data provided by CEM Benchmarking which have been used to calculate investment costs under each fund and that underpin each bid in each of the last three years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3973", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Grahame Morris"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Easington"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Grahame Morris"} ], "uin" : "46997"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }