One of the north’s top health chiefs has criticised Highland Council for investing more than £26million in an industry that is crippling the country’s health.
A Press and Journal investigation has revealed that the local authority has upped its pension investment in tobacco companies by £3million since last year.
It has also retained a huge shareholding in the alcohol sector, despite promoting good health as a key policy.
On top of the tobacco investments, the council currently has more than £3million in breweries and £3.5million in pubs.
NHS Highland chairman David Alston acknowledged that pension fund trustees are obliged to maximise benefits for clients but added: “This is wrong.”
He said: “The law should be changed to allow trustees to ensure that funds are invested ethically. This would mean no investment in tobacco companies because there’s no safe level of smoking.
“And, as they systematically kill their customers, the tobacco industry targets the young to ensure they have a stream of new customers, often from the poorest countries.”
Two Highland GPs added their disgust.
Former council leader and retired Lochaber doctor Michael Foxley tried, unsuccessfully, on several occasions to convince colleagues to stop the practice.
“Tobacco is a proven high risk to health and has no benefits. The council should be an ethical investor and dis-invest from tobacco,” he said.
“Whereas alcohol, in moderation, improves health outcomes and is/should be a social activity, tobacco affects adversely the smoker and children, and the companies target deprived and developing nations.”
Serving Inverness area councillor and GP, Dr Jean Davis said: “I can’t think of anything positive about the use of these products, so we shouldn’t support tobacco companies.
“Alcohol has both positive and negative effects but I wouldn’t be too concerned about the pension fund investment in pubs and breweries which provide a positive element for socialising provided people drink sensibly.”
Dr Davis urged trustees to remind investment managers of the fund’s stated commitment to “social responsibility”.
Conservative Highlands and Islands MSP Ed Mountain said: “Public bodies should always be mindful that their investments reflect the needs of the people they’re investing the money for and they should be ethical.”
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch SNP MSP Kate Forbes said: “I don’t support any promotion or investment in tobacco firms.”
The current fund is worth almost £1.47billion, having grown from £982million in 2011.
Administered by the council, it encompasses the pensions of a raft of other public bodies in the north including the police and fire services, health personnel employed by the council, the University of the Highlands and Islands, Western Isles Council and transport agency Hitrans.
In a policy statement published in summer 2015, the council prioritised the promotion of good health.
It said: “We will continue the introduction of PE groups in each associated school group and we will trial simple and effective initiatives such as the ‘daily mile’ project in primary schools.”
It pledged to work with the north’s drug and alcohol partnership “to address alcohol dependency in all of our communities”.
No-one from the council’s pensions committee was in a position to comment on the story, but members have said in the past that pension fund ethics are “complex”.
