Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Finance & Governance.

RESOLVED:

That the Executive:

(i)               Note the Treasury Management Performance for 2021/22;

(ii)             Recommend that Council approves the outturn against the 2021/22 Prudential and Treasury Management Indicators and the Annual Treasury Management Report (Annex 1).

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance, Councillor Schofield, gave an overview of the report on an update on the performance of the Council’s treasury management activities for the last financial year. The report formed part of formal reporting requirements under the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management. It confirmed that the Council had complied with legislative and regulatory requirements.

The report was considered by the Audit Committee in September for their comments and questions. Officers responded to their feedback including their observations on how the report content could be presented to provide more context which will be considered for future reports.

Executive Members supported the recommendations and agreed to submit the report to full Council for approval on 27 October 2022.

RESOLVED:

That the Executive:

(i)               Note the Treasury Management Performance for 2021/22;

(ii)             Recommend that Council approves the outturn against the 2021/22 Prudential and Treasury Management Indicators and the Annual Treasury Management Report (Annex 1).

The Executive Member for Finance & Governance.

To note the Treasury Management Outturn Report 2021/22 and Annex 1 and provide any observations to the Executive at its meeting on 15 September 2022.

The Chief Finance Officer explained that this report provided an update on the performance of the Council’s treasury management activities for the last financial year.  The report formed part of formal reporting requirements under the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management.

This report would be considered by the Executive on 15 September 2022 before submission to Council for approval on the 22 September 2022.

Overall, the report showed that the Council’s treasury management activity for last year was on track and complied with the limits that members previously approved.

Following a member question, it was explained that the difference in the figures shown within tables 2 and 3 (page 23 of the report) were due to budget adjustments in the year and reconciliation of the figures would be provided via written response. The presentation of these the figures would be reviewed when preparing future reports.

A member of the Committee stated that the format of the report did not always allow the Committee to understand the basis for the figures. The chief Finance Officer explained that the Council followed templates provided by its Treasury Advisor. She also advised that there were currently two leading Treasury Advisors in the market and the Council was due to go through a tendering process in the autumn to re-let its contract; as part of that tender evaluation the quality of template formats for reporting could be considered.

Following a member question, it was explained that Greensand Holdings was a wholly owned company, with a Board of Directors and a business plan. This was a property holding company whose assets were Crown House (an office building) and a plot of land adjacent to Gatwick Airport. The sum shown in the Treasury Management report represented the value of the loan funding that the Council provided to the company to purchase those assets and the accrued interest. Members were apprised that the loan from the Council to Greensand Holdings could only be provided on commercial terms. A written response would be given to members outlining the terms of the loan.

RESOLVED that:

     I.        The Committee notes the Treasury Management Performance for 2021/22;

    II.        Feedback from the Committee be provided for consideration by the Executive; and

  III.        Written responses would be sent to Members.