HC Deb 12 June 2000 vol 351 cc635-6
31. Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)

If he will make a statement on the commissioners' policy on investment in Zimbabwe. [123701]

Mr. Stuart Bell (Second Church Estates Commissioner, representing the Church Commissioners)

As at December 1999, the commissioners' overseas equities were valued at £648.1 million. The commissioners have no investments in Zimbabwe.

Mr. Bercow

In the light of the brutal behaviour of the Zimbabwean Government at home, the way in which they have offended everybody abroad and the fact that they are now, without doubt, international pariahs, is the hon. Gentleman aware that that answer, on behalf of the Church Commissioners, warms the cockles of my heart?

Mr. Bell

I am pleased to be able to warm the cockles of the hon. Gentleman's heart. I should point out that the commissioners' overseas investments are managed externally by three fund managers. Those managers have discretionary powers to invest in all world equity markets, including those of the emerging economies, while complying with the commissioners' ethical criteria. The hon. Gentleman makes an important point in relation to those criteria.