Issue - meetings
Treasury Management Mid-Term Report
Meeting: 23/11/2023 - Audit and Governance Committee (Item 35)
35 Treasury Management Mid-Term Report 
PDF 644 KB
Purpose:
To provide Members with an update on Treasury Management activity, the performance of internal and external funds and prudential indicators for the period 1st April 2023 – 30th Sept 2023.
Recommendation:
That the Committee notes the Treasury Management Mid-Term Report.
Invited:
Madhu Richards, Director of Finance
Georgina Dyer, Chief Accountant
Minutes:
The Chief Accountant introduced the Treasury Management Mid-Term Report, which had recently been considered by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Committee requested that future treasury management report are presented to the Audit and Governance Committee and not the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Chair, Councillor Carl Rylett proposed that the Committee note the contents of the report. This was seconded by Councillor Jane Doughty, was put to the vote and was carried.
The Committee questioned the Council’s approach to ethical investments. The Chief Accountant explained that there was a small part of the pooled fund portfolio that would include investments in fossil fuel producers for example because the Council had multi-asset funds which reflected the market as a whole. Ethical investments tended to have lower returns than other investments. The Chief Accountant committed to seeking further information from the Council’s treasury advisors and bringing that to the next Audit and Governance Committee meeting.
The Committee Resolved to:
- Note the report.
Meeting: 08/11/2023 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 7)
7 Treasury Management Mid-Term Report PDF 644 KB
Purpose:
To provide Members with an update on Treasury Management activity, the performance of internal and external funds and prudential indicators for the period 1st April 2023 – 30th Sept 2023.
Recommendation:
That the Committee scrutinises the Treasury Management Mid-Term Report.
Invited:
Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance
Madhu Richards, Director of Finance
Georgina Dyer, Chief Accountant
Minutes:
Councillor Alaric Smith, the Executive Member for Finance introduced the Treasury Management Mid-Term Report, which provided the Members with an update on the Treasury Management Activity, the performance of internal and external funds and prudential indicators for the first half of the financial year.
The Executive Member for Finance handed over to Georgina Dyer, the Chief Accountant, who introduced the detailed report that the Council is required to report on and asked the Committee if they had any questions.
Councillors had many points of clarification on the report:
- The loans CFR line on the table at 8.2 on page 32 showed the extent of the Council’s internal borrowing; there was currently no external borrowing.
- S106 funds would be used to finance internal borrowing to fund the capital programme (S106 funding is ring fenced – so only specific projects), along with any other funds the Council had,
- The net income increases shown on page 35 reflected the impact of Marriotts although the investment property portfolio was quite dynamic.
- The small treasury team was shared across the Publica partnership and had recently been bolstered.
- The capital value of the Council’s externally managed pooled funds (page 29) should improve as interest rates decline. Arlingclose provided regular advice to the Council. When the statutory override ends, the Council would have to account for unrealised gains and losses.
The Chief Accountant explained to the Committee that they used a CIPFA standard report template, hence why the report had been laid out in the way it had.
Councillor Alex Wilson was concerned that unless you were a finance expert how could the committee effectively scrutinise the report, as to present only points of clarity had been discussed.
Andrew Brown the Business Manager for Democratic Services confirmed that the Constitution stipulated that the report must come to Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance. The Chief Accountant added that it was also a legislative requirement to produce quarterly reports to Members.
In response to a question from Councillor Liam Walker, the Chief Finance Accountant confirmed that Arlingclose do benchmark and that West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) were doing well against similar Council sizes, and no major red flags at the moment.
Councillor Alex Wilson through the Chair proposed that the Committee refer to the Constitution Working Group the constitutional position on where treasury performance reports are considered, with a recommendation that this is a responsibility of the Audit and Governance Committee and not the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This was seconded by Councillor Thomas Ashby, was put to a vote and was carried.
The Committee Resolved to:
- The Committee referred to the Constitution Working Group the constitutional position on where treasury performance reports are presented, with a recommendation that this is a responsibility of the Audit and Governance Committee and not the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.