We take ethical investments very seriously and we do this by influencing companies from the inside. We use F&C to actively engage with a wide range of companies including having face to face meetings with them to promote corporate social responsibility and high standards in corporate governance amongst those in which we invest. We also believe that voting at annual meetings is important. By voting at these meetings, we can express our views on the level of board independence and pay contracts for senior executives, for example. We're also a member of the Local Authority Pension Fund forum. 60 local authority pension funds are members of the forum representing 75% of local government pension funds by value of assets. This gives the forum bargaining power when it talks to companies and influencing the way they behave.

We've also chosen to engage with companies on social and environmental issues. We employ F&C Asset Management to enter into sustained and constructive dialogue with UK companies via a Responsible Engagement Overlay programme. The programme aims to encourage companies to enhance their business performance by adopting better social and environmental practices.