Local Government Pension Scheme

“This Assembly notes the proposed changes set out in the Local Government Pension Scheme: Revoking and replacing the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 2009 which specifically proposes to prevent local authorities using their pensions and procurement policies to pursue boycotts disinvestments and sanctions against foreign nations and the UK defence industry.

This Assembly also notes that as of January 2016 the Greater London Authority had invested through its Group Investment Syndicate (GIS) £85 million of taxpayer’s money in the Riyad Bank, a bank which is 49 per cent owned by state bodies and prominently features the three most senior members of the Saudi royal family in its annual reports.

This Assembly objects to the proposed changes to the management to Local Government Pension Scheme to restrict the freedom of elected bodies to take decisions about the appropriateness of certain foreign investments and believes that the predominant concern of a financial return on investments can be combined with policies relating to the appropriateness and ethical concerns of investing in certain countries and regimes, especially when the investments are in state owned or part state owned financial institutions.

The Chair of the London Assembly should write to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government expressing the London Assembly’s objections to the restrictions on potential investment decisions that are being proposed.

This Assembly also urges the Mayor to ensure that all investments undertaken by the GLA Group Investment Syndicate are regularly published and available via the website www.london.gov.uk to allow Londoners full access to information about how investment decisions are being made on their behalf.”