Agenda item

Treasury Management Outtturn Report 2020-21

Minutes:

Councillor Jabbar MOVED and Councillor Shah SECONDED a report of the Director of Finance.

 

The Council was informed that it was required by regulations issued under the Local Government Act 2003 to produce an annual treasury management review of activities and the actual prudential and treasury indicators for 2020/21. The report met the requirements of both the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management (the Code) and the CIPFA Prudential

Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities (the Prudential Code).

 

During 2020/21 the minimum reporting requirements were that the full Council should receive the following reports:

·         an annual treasury strategy in advance of the year (approved 26 February 2020)

·         a mid-year (minimum) treasury update report (approved 16 December 2020)

·         an annual review following the end of the year describing the activity compared to the strategy (this report)

 

The Council was informed that the regulatory environment placed responsibility on Members for the review and scrutiny of treasury management policy and activities. The report was therefore important

in that respect, as it provided details of the outturn position for treasury activities and highlighted compliance with the Council’s policies previously approved by members.

 

The Council confirmed that it had complied with the requirements under the Code to give prior scrutiny to the treasury strategy and the mid-year update. The Audit Committee was charged with the scrutiny of treasury management activities in Oldham and reviewed the content of the annual report at its meeting of 29 June 2021. The Committee was content to commend the report to Cabinet and Council (to ensure full compliance with the Code for 2020/21).

 

The Cabinet had approved the report on 23 August 2021 and was content

to commend the report to Council.

 

During 2020/21, the Council had complied with its legislative and regulatory requirements. The key actual prudential and treasury indicators detailing the impact of capital expenditure activities during the year with comparators were set out in the report.

 

Members were informed that actual capital expenditure was less than the revised budget estimate for 2020/21 presented within the 2020/21 Treasury Management Strategy report considered at the Council meeting of 4 March 2021. The outturn position was significantly less than the £147.632m original capital budget for 2020/21 as approved at Budget Council on 26 February 2020.

 

It had been apparent at the beginning of 2020/21 that spending plans were not going to be realised, the COVID-19 pandemic halted works on projects and delayed the start of others. Because of this, and taking account of re-profiled expenditure, new assumptions, approvals and scheme updates the expenditure budgets and funding plans were continually reassessed throughout in year. The significant re-phasing was associated with the revised vision and strategic framework for ‘Creating a Better Place’ which was

approved in August 2020. This placed more emphasis on economic recovery, given the impact of the pandemic. This review required several existing regeneration projects to be reviewed and rephased to align to the long-term vision of the new strategy. The final outturn position for 2020/21 of £73.227m was a significant reduction compared to the expenditure initially planned and approved at Budget Council in February 2020.

 

Short Term Temporary Borrowing was undertaken during the year and was detailed in the report.

 

Other prudential and treasury indicators were to be found in the main body of this report.

 

The Director of Finance confirmed that the statutory borrowing limit (the authorised limit) was not breached during the financial year 2020/21.

 

The financial year 2020/21 continued the challenging investment environment of previous years, namely low investment returns.

 

RESOLVED that:

1.    The actual 2020/21 prudential and treasury indicators presented in the

Report be approved.

2.    The annual treasury management report for 2020/21 be approved.

 

Supporting documents: