The West Midlands Pension Fund Committee last met on Wednesday 25 September 2024 and the minutes are now available.  It is now possible to download the agenda and papers relating to the next meeting on 11 December.  Minutes and webcasts of previous meetings are also available.

The Committee is made up of councillors from each local authority in the West Midlands Metropolitan area. Their next meeting will be on 11 December – please write to your delegate and ask them to consider disinvestment from nuclear weapons manufacture – they have a leaflet about responsible investment. Here is the text of an email I sent on 4 Dectember to Councillor Mary Locke, the Birmingham delegate – it refers to the ICAN week of action.  Feel free to copy or amend as you wish.  Here’s a list of the committee members.  Wolverhampton members are at the top – scroll down for members from other WM councils.

Dear Councillor Locke

I am writing to you in your capacity as the City of Birmingham’s delegate to the committee of the West Midlands Pension Fund, which has its next meeting on Wednesday 11 December.  Item 5 on the agenda refers to a report on Responsible Investment Activities, which contains negotiations regarding climate change, resource efficiency and social equality.  Clearly the Fund is concerned that its investments are used in a socially responsible manner, but weapons and particularly nuclear weapons are not mentioned, even though the use of weapons contributes massively to the carbon footprint.

Nuclear weapons programmes divert public funds from health care, education, disaster relief and other vital services. The nuclear-armed countries spend more than $173,000 per minute on their nuclear bombs, over $90 billion each year. Meanwhile, the companies producing these weapons of mass destruction and their investors make billions in profit.  Nuclear weapons affect all of us, so it’s up to all of us to push back against the absurd sums of money wasted on them.

One year of nuclear weapons spending could…..

  • Convert more than 16.5 million homes to solar power
  • Secure a year of clean water & sanitation for 1.2 billion people
  • Hire 1.5 million high school science teachers
  • Vaccinate 2 billion people against coronavirus
  • Pay for ⅓ of the costs for climate change adaptation in developing countries 

I understand that the Pension Fund has investments in firms that make nuclear weapons or their components, including Lockheed Martin, BAE systems, General Dynamics and many others.  Nuclear weapons could kill millions of people, and built up areas such as the West Midlands would be particular targets.  It should be part of the responsibility of local councils to try and prevent nuclear bombs falling on the West Midlands.  It is therefore important that the Pension Fund stops investing in nuclear weapons manufacturers.

I would be grateful if you could convey my views as a council tax payer in Birmingham and a beneficiary of the Pension Fund to the committee next Wednesday, and if possible report back to me on any discussion.

Yours sincerely
Pam Bishop