THE DIRTY DOZEN

The Campaign Against Arms Trade published its annual survey of organisations with investments in arms companies, yesterday Wednesday 30 March 2005. CAAT surveyed 99 local authority pension funds in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as part of its Clean Investment Campaign 2005. Twelve local authority pension funds, dubbed ’The Dirty Dozen’, each have 1 million shares or more in BAE Systems, Europe’s largest arms manufacture.

The Dirty Dozen includes: West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Strathclyde, Lancashire, South Yorkshire, Kent, Derbyshire, East Riding (Yorkshire), Hampshire, Teeside, Essex and the London Borough of Southwark . CAAT is calling for all local authorities to adopt ethical investment criteria and to not invest in arms exporting companies.

Ian Prichard, CAAT Research Co-ordinator said:

"Local authority pension funds are being invested in arms companies which export to countries in conflict zones or regimes with unacceptable human rights records. Public money is invested in these pension funds often without the knowledge or agreement of contributors or people living in the local authority. It’s about time public money was invested for the public good and that means excluding arms exporters such as BAE Systems."

How do they come by this info?

CAAT’s Clean Investment Campaign started in 1991. The survey shows local authorities, charities, health organisations, religious organisations, educational institutions and their investment in arms companies. CAAT undertakes its annual survey by scrutinising the share registers of the six largest arms companies based in the UK and then checking with the pension funds for: BAE Systems, Rolls Royce Group, GKN, Smiths Group, Cobham and VT Group. The full survey can be found online at:

Twelve local authority pension funds hold more than a million shares in BAE Systems: West Yorkshire Pension Fund - 5,457,603 shares; West Midlands Pension Fund - 4,228,553 shares; Strathclyde Pension Fund - 3,817,000 shares, Lancashire County Council - 3,481,396 shares, South Yorkshire Pensions Authority - 2,244,000 shares, Kent County Council - 1,923,825 shares, Derbyshire County Council - 1,640,000 shares, East Riding of Yorkshire Council - 1,500,000 shares, Hampshire County Council - 1,332,289 shares, Teeside Pension Fund - 1,300,000 shares, Essex County Council - 1,149,300 shares, London Borough of Southwark - 1,071,670 shares.