Agenda and draft minutes

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the ‘meeting room’, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

Upon opening the meeting, the Committee decided to adjourn for a few minutes. The Committee reconvened at 8:01pm.

The Chair referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies. However, the Committee noted that Councillor Rossetti was attending the meeting online.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with under item 7 below).

There was no urgent business. 

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were none.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

There were none.

The Council has adopted the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice (the CIPFA Code) which requires the Council to approve a treasury management strategy before the start of each financial year. This report fulfils the Council’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to the CIPFA Code.

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance (Pensions and Treasury), introduced the item and stated that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had recommended for an interest rate sensitivity to be included as part of the budget and something that had already been captured in the in the MTFS budget papers that the Director of Finance was preparing.

The meeting heard that:

·      In response to a query regarding if the report had been agreed by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment, the meeting heard that the Cabinet Member had been consulted on the report, but the report was be scheduled to be formally adopted by Full Council.

·      A query was raised regarding the financial situation across the country and how this was taken into account locally. The meeting heard that higher inflation, higher interest rates and a slowing economy presented a challenge and this was compounded by local authorities having issues with funding. This had been considered in relation to the budget, which members had been consulted upon. Where Treasury Management was involved in the process was articulating what interest costs would be given the Council’s spending plans. Given the framework and given the budget process for the Council, there had to be risk management and control in terms of how those in-year decisions were made. There was a budget which Treasury Management had to adhere to. There were also risks that could occur when making investments, such as loss of investment. The report tried to build in controls in relation to this. There were limits in terms of how much could be placed with different institutions, but there was also consideration of the relative expense of borrowing. The approach in the Treasury Strategy was acknowledging that interest rates were higher, but there had to be a framework in terms of how certain  decisions during the course of the year would be taken. This was assessed through the affordability of the budget setting process that was set through the Council. When the report was submitted to the Full Council meeting, it would be an appendix to the main budget.

·      A query was raised regarding page 15 of the report, which stated that the Council may utilise banks and building societies which were unsecured and registered providers which were unsecured. In response, the meeting heard that in recent years, the Council had never placed any deposits or any arrangement with the bank. Barclays was used for day-to-day cash flow management, but the Council never secured deposits with any other bank. It was included in the strategy because there were times when the bigger banks could offer more attractive rates. However, the focus for the strategy was to work with the safest counterparties which was considered to be the UK Government through the Debt Management Office followed by money market funds, which were usually AA rated - the highest investment grade rating possible. If the Council had excess liquidity (more money than it normally would to complete the three-month payments), then  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

There were no items.

1 February 2024      

7 March 2024

The next meeting would be held on 7 March 2024.