A West End councillor has called on Dundee City Council to open up its private talks about controversial investment in tobacco firms.
Councillors are set to be told behind closed doors about the millions of pounds Tayside’s local authorities have invested in tobacco corporations.
But Fraser Macpherson has written to Dundee City Council’s chief executive and director of corporate services on the matter, which affects pensions for local authority workers in Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross.
He said: “I felt the need to query the fact this is in the confidential section, as I think the matter is of interest to all citizens of the city, but in particular members of the scheme. It should be discussed in a public forum as it is of such importance.”
The Tayside Superannuation Fund has invested £47m in British American Tobacco and £15m in Imperial Tobacco over the last three years.
Members of the scheme include council workers, staff from universities, arts centres and the trust that runs local authority leisure centres.
Dundee’s pension investment sub-committee was due to decide on the issue last November but chose to seek legal advice first. They will finally hear a report on the matter at their meeting on Monday.
While the majority of the committee meeting is open to the public, they are excluded from the section titled “Investment in Tobacco report”.
Lib Dem councillor Mr Macpherson said: “The council has taken legal advice on the whole issue and I suspect that the confidentiality may be because of that, but there are wider implications for pension scheme members and an interest generally as it is an important issue.
“It is my view they should not be investing in any scheme that has health issues involved, as is the case in relation to tobacco. I think it would be better for it to be in the public part of the agenda.
“As things stand, both the debate and the decision will not be public, and I don’t think that is appropriate.”
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “The law relating to council committee meetings recognises that certain types of information can be considered by council committees in private. The decision on whether this is considered in private is, however, one for the committee concerned.”