Agenda item

Treasury Management Practices and Principles

Minutes:

Wendy Eldridge (Lead Accountancy Manager) presented the Treasury Management Practices and Principles report. The following key points were highlighted:

 

(a)

in response to publicised items in the press, it was confirmed that the Council received regular guidance on the banking and financial market from its treasury management advisors, Arling Close and took account of the guidance provided. The Council had no financial transactions with either the Silicon Valley Bank or Credit Swiss and were advised, due to ongoing uncertainty in the financial market, to hold a maximum of 35 days duration of any unsecured bank deposits as a cautious temporary measure. Predominately the Council just held money within money market funds or the Barclays call account, therefore the Council was protected;

 

(b)

the CIPFA code of practice on treasury management required the Council to publish its practices, principles and schedules each year. The treasury management practices and principles were in place to ensure the Council’s treasury management policy was adhered to and that working practices and controls were in place to meet the approved strategy;

 

(c)

the report set out 13 key treasury management practices (TMP) and reflected the updates to the treasury management code that was last reviewed in December 2021. The treasury management set out the policies and objectives and approach to risk management of all its treasury management activities and the manner in how the authority sought to achieve the policy. Each of the 13 treasury management practices set out the principal for each TMP and the schedule for how the authority applied its practices.

 

In response to questions raised it was reported that –

 

(d)

in terms of the prudential indicators, there had been some recommended additional indicators and these would be reviewed as part of the reporting structure to the Audit and Governance Committee in 2023/24;

 

(e)

in terms of the ethical characteristics of the organisations the Council borrowed from and invested in, guidance was provided by the Council’s treasury management advisors, Arling Close; the Council was also reliant on managers within organisations they did business with to provide this information if requested. It was further added by Councillor Lowry that the Council had a treasury management working forum that had received a detailed presentation of the impact of climate change and the Council’s decisions upon its investments. There was a system in place within the Council and this was further developed by the market place.

 

It was suggested that the treasury management working group received an update at their earliest opportunity upon the implications of the banking crisis and the issue of ethical characteristics of the organisations that the Council borrowed from and invested in;

 

(f)

the Council used Barclay’s bank for its daily transactions and they had gone public with their intention to carbon zero by 2030; they were considered to be a green bank and were open with their ethical intentions on their website;

 

(g)

it was noted that future updates upon the Treasury Management Practices and Principles should contain information upon what the Council was doing in respect of its climate change emergency in terms of its investments and borrowing and loans etc.

 

The Committee agreed:

 

1.

to recommend that the Treasury Management Working Group received an update at their earliest opportunity upon the implications of the banking crisis and the issue of ethical characteristics of the organisations that the Council borrowed from and invested in;

 

2.

to recommend that future update reports upon the Treasury Management Practices and Principles should contain information upon what the Council was doing in respect of its climate change emergency in terms of its investments and borrowing and loans etc.

 

3.

to approve the Treasury Management Practices, Principles and Schedules for 2023/24 as set out in this report. This will ensure compliance with the CIPFA Code of Practice for Treasury Management.

 

Supporting documents: