To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support local authorities and other public bodies to apply ethical criteria when deciding whether to divest from sectors such as fossil fuels, arms companies and businesses complicit in occupation or war crimes. (S6O-04875)

Local authorities are responsible for their pension investments, and pension scheme legislation requires them to publish a statement about their investment principles, which should include the extent of their environmental, social and ethical considerations. The Scottish Government has published a business investment framework and guidance on sustainable procurement, and the Scottish National Investment Bank has a responsible and ethical investment policy. There is also guidance for public bodies on carrying out due diligence checks on companies to see if they are associated with human rights abuses. Public bodies are responsible for deciding on their actions in individual cases.

I lodged the question before I was aware that there would be a statement from the First Minister on such issues. I hope that that will touch on the question, and I look forward eagerly to hearing the detail of it.

Nevertheless, there is in Scotland local government legislation—to which my colleague Ross Greer drew the Scottish Government’s attention over the recess—that places restrictions on local authorities applying ethical criteria in the way that I have set out. We are all, each of us, free to apply ethical criteria in our choices. Can the minister agree that there should be no reason in principle why decisions that are made collectively on behalf of us all should be restricted in the ethical criteria that they apply on the basis of the political views of democratically elected councillors?

First, the member is correct to say that there will be a statement by the First Minister later this afternoon. Clearly, members will have to wait and see what it contains, but—as Patrick Harvie identified—it will touch on some of those issues.

With regard to the principle, it is important to recognise that, in this area, there is a mixture of devolved and reserved competence and that, in order to have an effective policy, we need to be able to unpick that and understand the extent of devolved competence so that we can legislate accordingly. In principle, however, I do not disagree with Patrick Harvie’s comments.