Issue - meetings

[Claire Nye, Director of Finance, to present report]

Alison Shannon, Chief Accountant, presented the Treasury Management Annual report to the panel. The Chief Accountant gave an update on previous report that was presented to Cabinet in July 2018. The Chief Accountant gave an overview of the main points of the report.

The Chief Accountant advised the panel that revised code of practice aimed at supporting effective scrutiny of the Council’s Treasury Management strategy and policies was recently published by CIPFA. The team is currently working through the revised guidance.

The Chief Accountant commented that the Council is seeking advice from financial advisers about the possible short-term implications of Brexit on council finances, but the consensus is that is too difficult to predict given the level of uncertainty about the terms on which the UK will leave.

The Chief Accountant agreed to provide an update when more information is available about the implications for long term investments.

The panel queried the sustainability of the estimates of increased levels of Council borrowing up 2020-21 detailed in section on prudential indicators in the main report. The Director of Finance explained that the figures quoted include a lot of historical debts and commented on the importance of checking that the income stream is sufficient to cover the projected borrowing costs. The main aim of the strategy is to minimise the borrowing demands on the Council budget.

The Director of Finance commented on the policy towards the use of Housing Revenue Account and advised the panel that there was an underspend of £731,000.

The Director advised the panel that the Council will look at debts will mature – they are profiled over many years and the aim is to minimise the level of exposure to new financial pressures.

The panel discussed the content of the report and whether a more user-friendly version could be published alongside the main report to make it more accessible. The Director of Finance commented that there are specific requirements detailed in the prudential code about how information in treasury management reports is presented. 

The Director of Finance commented that the issue has been discussed with Councillor Development Group – for example, the use of crib sheets that can help members of the panel to meet their responsibility to ensure effective scrutiny of the Council’s Treasury Management strategy and policies.

Resolved:

            The panel agreed to note the report.