Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of trends in the levels of divestment by (a) Local Government Pension Schemes and (b) municipal asset pools from the UK defence industry.

MHCLG recognises that Local Government pension funds, asset pools and councils face pressure from campaign groups to adopt divestment policies. The scheme operates under a robust framework, which includes a clear approach to divestment, helping to protect funds from such influence. While administering authorities should consider member views, the Department has published statutory guidance on Investment Strategy Statements which makes clear they should not place disproportionate weight on the views of particular campaign groups or consultation respondents where those views may not be representative of the wider membership.

The statutory guidance on Investment Strategy Statements, which was published on 29 June 2026 also sets out that Local Government Pension Scheme asset pools are responsible for implementing the investment strategies which their partner administering authorities have set, and strategies should not set exclusions for investments in individual countries, investment styles or companies.

The guidance can be found here.