Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on long-term returns to the public purse of fossil fuel divestment by public sector pension funds.

Most public sector pension schemes are unfunded and do not therefore make investments. The only major public sector pension scheme that makes investments is the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Investment decisions are taken locally by each of the 89 pension fund authorities in England and Wales with regard to the policies set out in their Statement of Investment Principles. Details of these investments are included in each authority’s annual pension fund report, copies of which can be found at the LGPS Advisory Board website at www.lgpsboard.org/index.php/fund-annual-reports-2014