Report of Phil Cowen, Executive Member for Finance, Revenue & Benefits and Maxine O’Mahony, Chief Executive.

It was noted that this report had already been considered and discussed at the Governance & Audit Committee meeting held on 2 December 2021.

Councillor Cowen, the Executive Member for Finance, Revenues & Benefits presented the report.

The recommendations were proposed and seconded.

Alison Chubbock, the Assistant Director of Finance & S151 Officer was in attendance to answer any questions. 

Following a unanimous vote in favour of the recommendations, it was:

RESOLVED that:

1. the Treasury Management Strategy 2022-23 to 2024-25 at Appendix A be approved

2. the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement contained within Appendix A which sets out the Council’s policy on MRP be approved

3. the Prudential & Local Indicators and limits contained within Appendix A (Tables 1- 11) be approved

4. the Investment Strategy 2022-23 (Appendix B) and the detailed criteria included in Appendix B1 be approved

5. the Treasury Management Policy at Appendix B2 be approved.

Report of Maxine O’Mahony, Chief Executive.

The Assistant Director of Finance presented the report that outlined the Council’s Prudential Indicators for 2022-23 to 2024-25 and the expected treasury operations for this period and requested approval of the Treasury Management Policy, Strategy, and Prudential Indicators for 2022-23 to 2024-25.

Members heard that the contract with the Council’s external treasury management advisors, Link, had been extended until 31 March 2022.  In the meantime, the procurement of a new advisory contract was underway, and Members would be updated on progress in due course. 

In addition, CIPFA were consulting on the Treasury Management and Prudential codes and therefore the proposed policy did not include that information as it was not yet known and would be referred to the Committee in March 2022 if required.

It was highlighted that the Council would be in a borrowing position for the first time in many years, but this could be funded through internal borrowing as we were paying back capital spend through revenue contributions.

The list of countries who had a sovereign rating of AA or higher had previously been updated by LINK to include Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and Members were asked to consider adding these back into the Council’s list of investments (as the Committee had removed them previously).

Councillor Birt asked if there were any ethical standards on where to invest.  Members heard that there were not any ethical standards in place, but that the LINK counterparty list had been based on finance factors.  In addition, those countries listed as AAA did not always deal with small amounts and therefore it was unlikely that Breckland would be able to deal with all those counterparties on the list.

Councillor Monument asked what would happen if the Council’s external treasury management advisors, Link, would not be extended past March 2022. The Assistant Director of Finance said that if there was a different advisor appointed, then they may hold a different list of ratings, in which case the Committee would be informed.  However, in practice all advisors used similar guidance and limits.

Mr Fowler had noted that there had been a loan made to the Mid-Norfolk Railway Trust but asked if there had been a typographical mistake.  The Assistant Director of Finance confirmed that the original loan had been £50,000 but that a balance of £5,000 remained outstanding.

RESOLVED to RECOMMEND to FULL COUNCIL:

1)    That the Treasury Management Strategy 2022-23 to 2024-25 at Appendix A of the report is approved

2)    That the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement contained within Appendix A of the report which sets out the Council’s policy on MRP is approved

3)    That the Prudential & Local Indicators and limits contained within Appendix A of the report (Tables 1-11) are approved

4)    That the Investment Strategy 2022-23 (Appendix B of the report) and the detailed criteria included in Appendix B1 of the report is approved

5)    That the Treasury Management Policy at Appendix B2 of the report is approved