Issue - meetings

Ethical Business Practices Working Group Final Report

 

 

Meeting: 27/02/2020 - Council (Item 99)

99 Ethical Business Practices Working Group Final Report pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 103 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 6 February 2020 the Council considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that presented formally the final report of the Council’s Ethical Business Practices Working Group.

 

It was moved by Councillor McKinley, seconded by Councillor John Sayers 

 

That  

 

(1)

the Head of Corporate Resources be requested to make arrangements, via the Council’s decision-making processes, to include the revised statement of draft ethical business/investment principles as referred to below in the Treasury Management Strategy and to adopt it as part of the Council’s Policy for investment:

 

ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY

 

“The Local Authority at times invests surplus funds with third party organisations and institutions and the Council’s core values will play a major role in making investment decisions which will be aligned where possible to the following four overarching core principles;

 

  • Sustainable and Responsible – manage the effect on the environment, community and for the good of society
  • Value Based – invest in businesses that are aligned with the organisations core values;
  • Maximising Impact – achieve a measurable positive, social or environmental impact, in addition to a financial return;
  • Green – improving the environment.”

 

In deciding and then approving the counterparty list in which the Council will invest, the principles of security, liquidity and yield will always be the primary consideration to ensure compliance with statutory guidance. As part of this evaluation, the Council will consider ethical investment opportunities and identify and apply an appropriate weighting based on the Council’s Core Values/overarching core principles.

 

Where the Council deposits surplus balances overnight or for a short-term, investments will be made with financial institutions in a responsible manner (aligned to the overarching core principles/councils core values) where possible and in accordance with advice from its Treasury Management Advisor. In the event that the Council has surplus balances that it can invest for the longer term (e.g. terms over 1 year) it will exclude direct investment in financial products that do not contribute positively to society and the environment. This will include the principle that investment in specific financial products whose performance is driven by off-shore trading, financial malpractice, debt swops, short selling, the arms trade and tobacco industry will be avoided. The same rigorous criteria will be used to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values.

 

It is recommended that the Head of Corporate Resources, to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values,  

give consideration to the exclusion of those countries on theEU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions(the black list and the grey list), which aims to tackle external risks of tax abuse and unfair tax competition, within the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy. 

 

In order for these organisations to be included on the Council’s counterparty list they will be evaluated against the same criteria as other counterparties and assessed against the Council’s core values and ethical business and investment principles/policy, including  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99

Meeting: 06/02/2020 - Cabinet (Item 103)

103 Ethical Business Practices Working Group Final Report pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 34 of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services) held on 14 January 2020 the Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that presented formally the final report of the Council’s Ethical Business Practices Working Group.

 

Councillor McKinley, Lead Member of the Working Group presented the Final Report to Cabinet.

 

Decision Made:

 

That Council be recommended to: 

 

(1)

request the Head of Corporate Resources to make arrangements, via the Council’s decision-making processes, to include the revised statement of draft ethical business/investment principles as referred to below in the Treasury Management Strategy and to adopt it as part of the Council’s Policy for investment:

 

ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY

 

“The Local Authority at times invests surplus funds with third party organisations and institutions and the Council’s core values will play a major role in making investment decisions which will be aligned where possible to the following four overarching core principles;

 

  • Sustainable and Responsible – manage the effect on the environment, community and for the good of society
  • Value Based – invest in businesses that are aligned with the organisations core values;
  • Maximising Impact – achieve a measurable positive, social or environmental impact, in addition to a financial return;
  • Green – improving the environment.”

 

In deciding and then approving the counterparty list in which the Council will invest, the principles of security, liquidity and yield will always be the primary consideration to ensure compliance with statutory guidance. As part of this evaluation, the Council will consider ethical investment opportunities and identify and apply an appropriate weighting based on the Council’s Core Values/overarching core principles.

 

Where the Council deposits surplus balances overnight or for a short-term, investments will be made with financial institutions in a responsible manner (aligned to the overarching core principles/councils core values) where possible and in accordance with advice from its Treasury Management Advisor. In the event that the Council has surplus balances that it can invest for the longer term (e.g. terms over 1 year) it will exclude direct investment in financial products that do not contribute positively to society and the environment. This will include the principle that investment in specific financial products whose performance is driven by off-shore trading, financial malpractice, debt swops, short selling, the arms trade and tobacco industry will be avoided. The same rigorous criteria will be used to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values.

 

It is recommended that the Head of Corporate Resources, to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values,  

give consideration to the exclusion of those countries on theEU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions(the black list and the grey list), which aims to tackle external risks of tax abuse and unfair tax competition, within the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy. 

 

In order for these organisations to be included on the Council’s counterparty list they will be evaluated against the same criteria as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103

Meeting: 14/01/2020 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services) (Item 34)

34 Ethical Business Practices Working Group Final Report pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that presented formally the final report of the Council’s Ethical Business Practices Working Group.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That Cabinet and Council be recommended to: 

 

(1)

request the Head of Corporate Resources to make arrangements, via the Council’s decision-making processes, to include the revised statement of draft ethical business/investment principles as referred to below in the Treasury Management Strategy and to adopt it as part of the Council’s Policy for investment:

 

ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY

 

“The Local Authority at times invests surplus funds with third party organisations and institutions and the Council’s core values will play a major role in making investment decisions which will be aligned where possible to the following four overarching core principles;

 

  • Sustainable and Responsible – manage the effect on the environment, community and for the good of society
  • Value Based – invest in businesses that are aligned with the organisations core values;
  • Maximising Impact – achieve a measurable positive, social or environmental impact, in addition to a financial return;
  • Green – improving the environment.”

 

In deciding and then approving the counterparty list in which the Council will invest, the principles of security, liquidity and yield will always be the primary consideration to ensure compliance with statutory guidance. As part of this evaluation, the Council will consider ethical investment opportunities and identify and apply an appropriate weighting based on the Council’s Core Values/overarching core principles.

 

Where the Council deposits surplus balances overnight or for a short-term, investments will be made with financial institutions in a responsible manner (aligned to the overarching core principles/councils core values) where possible and in accordance with advice from its Treasury Management Advisor. In the event that the Council has surplus balances that it can invest for the longer term (e.g. terms over 1 year) it will exclude direct investment in financial products that do not contribute positively to society and the environment. This will include the principle that investment in specific financial products whose performance is driven by off-shore trading, financial malpractice, debt swops, short selling, the arms trade and tobacco industry will be avoided. The same rigorous criteria will be used to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values.

 

It is recommended that the Head of Corporate Resources, to assess whether investment in certain countries will be contrary to Sefton’s core values,  

give consideration to the exclusion of those countries on theEU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions(the black list and the grey list), which aims to tackle external risks of tax abuse and unfair tax competition, within the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy. 

 

In order for these organisations to be included on the Council’s counterparty list they will be evaluated against the same criteria as other counterparties and assessed against the Council’s core values and ethical business and investment principles/policy, including the ethical weighting to ensure balance and investments are aligned with the new policy.

 

The Council’s Treasury Management Team will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34