Report by Director of Finance

The Director of Finance submitted a report setting out a Treasury Management Strategy for endorsement.  The Strategy required approval before the start of the new financial year in accordance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice 2021 and the CIPFA Prudential Code for capital finance in local authorities (2021).  The Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) was attached to the report at Appendix A.

The report explained that the TMSS set out the parameters for the Council’s planned treasury activity during 2023/24 under which the Council’s Treasury Team would manage day to day activity, and that the successful identification, monitoring and control of financial risk were central to the Strategy.  Included in the TMSS alongside the Treasury Management Strategy were Capital Prudential Indicators, a Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy Statement, a Borrowing Strategy and an Annual Investment Strategy. 

The CIPFA 2021 Prudential and Treasury Management Code also required the Council to prepare a Capital Strategy report which set out the Council’s capital requirements arising from policy objectives, as well as the associated governance procedures and risk appetite.  The Capital Strategy included non-treasury investments and was reported separately from the TMSS (Minute 36 above refers).  The CIPFA Treasury Management Code 2021 further broke down non-treasury investment into: Investments for service purposes – taken or held primarily for the provision and purpose of delivering public services (including housing, regeneration, and local infrastructure), or in support of joint working with others to deliver such services;  Investment for commercial purposes - taken or held primarily for financial return and were not linked to treasury management activity or directly part of delivering services.

The report had been prepared with reference to the following documents:

• CIPFA Code of Practice for Treasury Management in the Public Services 2021;

• CIPFA The Prudential Code 2021;

• MHCLG Statutory Guidance on Local Government Investments (February 2018); and

• CIPFA Bulletin Treasury and Capital Management Update (October 2018).

The following motion was moved by Councillor Brock and seconded by Councillor Ennis and CARRIED:

Resolved –

(1)          That the Treasury Management Strategy Statement for 2023/24 be approved as set out in Appendix A, section 2 to the report;

(2)          That the Capital Prudential Indicators be approved as set out in Appendix A, section 3 to the report;

(3)          That the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy for 2023/24 be approved as set out in Appendix A to the report;

(4)          That the Borrowing Strategy for 2023/24 be approved as set out in Appendix A section 5 to the report;

(5)          That the Annual Investment Strategy for 2023/24 be approved as set out in Appendix A, section 6 to the report; and

(6)          That the Prudential and Treasury Management indicators be approved as set out in Appendix A, Annex 1 to the report;

(7)          That the requirement within the Prudential Code 2021 for quarterly reporting on the Council’s Treasury Management activities from 2023/24 be noted and that these reports would be presented to Audit & Governance Committee in line with the current delegation.