HC Deb 13 February 1996 vol 271 cc527-8W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, when the Church Commissioners decided that they would invest in companies producing armaments where armaments make up less than 30 per cent. of a company's portfolio; on what occasions in the last five years the cut-off point has been altered; and what it was previously. [14500]

Mr. Alison

The commissioners do not operate this policy through the application of percentages. Those companies in which we invest and which derive a significant proportion of business from armaments or any of the other banned categories—tobacco, newspapers, gambling, brewing and distilling—are automatically put on the agenda for review by the ethical working group.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, what talks the Church Commissioners have held with the General Electric Company; what was the subject of the talks; and what conclusions were reached. [14499]

Mr. Alison

The commissioners met David Newlands, finance director of GEC, on 19 July 1995 to discuss the company's role in the defence industry and to gain a clearer understanding of its corporate strategy.

We were informed that GEC is a multi-product company employing 86,000 people and assured that all military equipment sales made by GEC were to the Her Majesty's Government or sponsored by Her Majesty's Government and that they were subject to rigorous controls. The equipment is used in the defence of our country, our NATO partners and allies. Its corporate governance standards were deemed to be high.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the right hon. Member for Selby, representing the Church Commissioners, which(a) armaments companies and (b) other companies the Church Commissioners have disinvested from, or decided not to invest in, because of their ethical policies in the last five years. [14498]

Mr. Alison

The commissioners refrain from investing in any company whose main business is in armaments, newspapers, gambling, brewing and distilling.

A number of companies with defence interests, such as Babcock International, British Aerospace, Cobham, Hunting, Racal Electronics, Rolls-Royce, Serco, Smiths Industries, Vickers, Vosper Thornycroft, are excluded from the portfolio for this reason. The commissioners have not disinvested over the last five years from any companies with defence interests held within the portfolio, and therefore are meeting the "main business" criterion, on ethical grounds.

In answer to (b), the commissioners disinvested from British Sky Broadcasting in November 1995 following the company's decision to promote and broadcast the Playboy TV channel.