Tayside Pension Fund is worth over £3.7 billion and has over 51,000 members, including employees of Angus Council, Dundee City Council and Perth and Kinross Council.[1] The fund also covers Perth College UHI, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (non-uniformed staff), Tayside Contracts and a range of other employers.
A list of investments obtained via freedom of information shows that Tayside Pension Fund held shares worth nearly £10 million (0.3% of the fund) in three nuclear weapons producers as at 30 September 2020:
| Company | Value of shares (£) |
| Airbus | £7,590,322 |
| Babcock International | £1,785,427 |
| Moog | £442,936 |
| Total | £9,818,685 |
Policy
Tayside Pension fund’s policy on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) suggests that the pensions committee has a slightly broader interpretation of fiduciary duty than some other local authority pension funds.
The policy states the fund is required to “take a responsible approach, grounded in industry best practice, to administer their investment programmes and exercise their fiduciary duty to guard against extremes or selective interpretation of the legal principles which might unduly restrict the consideration of ESG and other wider factors which may influence the choice of investments so long as that does not risk material financial detriment to the Fund”.[2] This language is taken from a 2016 letter[3] by the Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme’s advisory board, which accompanied legal advice[4] on the application of the legal principles of fiduciary duty (see section 3A.2 for more on this).
Tayside’s ESG policy goes on to say that “it is the Fund’s aim (where circumstances permit) to disinvest from tobacco stocks”.[5] If fund managers wish to invest in the tobacco industry, they must produce a business case which demonstrates “that there are no suitable alternatives at that time that better meet the criteria to meet their investment objectives”. There is no mention of restrictions relating to other harmful industries in the statement.
This policy falls well short of a blanket exclusion and the fund still holds shares in tobacco. However, the existence of the policy is encouraging, as it shows that Tayside pensions committee is at least willing to support the idea of divestment from harmful industries.
Action
If you live in one of the three council areas covered by Tayside Pension Fund (Angus, Dundee City or Perth and Kinross), please contact your local councillor about the fund’s investments in nuclear weapons and urge them to support a resolution that calls on the fund to divest: see https://nukedivestmentscotland.org/local-authority-divestment-resolutions/
NOTES
[1] https://www.taysidepensionfund.org/media/5731/tpf-audited-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-20-certified.pdf.
[2] https://www.taysidepensionfund.org/media/3948/194-2018-esg-040618.docx.
[3] http://lgpsab.scot/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Letter-to-Funds-on-Fiduciary-Duty.pdf.
[4] http://lgpsab.scot/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Report-National-Scheme-Advisory-Board-v4-updated-23_2_16.pdf.
[5] https://www.taysidepensionfund.org/media/3948/194-2018-esg-040618.docx.
Don't Bank on the Bomb Scotland 