Report and appendix attached

Cabinet considered the Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2022/23 and Annual Investment Strategy 2022/23 (“TMSS”) report presented by Chief Financial Officer Jane West.

It was explained in the report that The TMSS was part of the authority’s reporting procedures as recommended by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) TM Code and its Prudential code (“The CIPFA Prudential Code”) for capital finance in local authorities. The Local Government Act 2003 required authorities to comply with both codes. The TMSS also set out recently introduced changes to the legislative framework, which were generally designed to place restrictions on authorities’ commercial activity.

The report fulfilled the authority’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act 2003 to have regard to both the CIPFA TM Code and Government Guidance, and it covered the following:

• The Borrowing and Investment Strategies.

• Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators - there was a change to them from the revised CIPFA TM published in December 2021 and was discussed later in the report and would be reported upon in the 2023-24 TMSS.

Jane West explained that the report contained information around the governance of treasury spending and borrowing, the surplus cash that was held and set out the Council’s appetite for risk which she assured was low and therefore money was kept very safe.

The Cabinet Members took an opportunity to thank Jane for all her hard work and balanced budgets over the years and wished her best of luck in the future as she was leaving her post at the Council.

Cabinet:

AGREED the following:

1.    To approve the TMSS 2022/23.

2.    To approve the Prudential and Treasury Indicators set out in Appendices 2 and 3 of the report.

3.    To recommend the annual TMSS 2022/23 to Council for approval.

4.    To delegate future changes required to the Strategy to the Chief Financial Officer in the consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Property. This woold provide the additional flexibility to swiftly respond to changing circumstances.