Issue - meetings

Committee is asked to:

Note the treasury outturn position for 2020/21 and the challenging context of the financial environment in global markets in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic which pushed down both investment returns and borrowing costs.

The Chairman drew the Committee’s attention to the erroneous inclusive of the word ‘strategy’ in the item’s title. The item should have read “Treasury Management Outturn report”.

The Committee considered the report and the verbal summary delivered by the Deputy Chief Accountant.

In response to members’ questions, the Deputy Chief Accountant explained that funds have been provided by central government to assist the Council with its COVID response and recovery but, that at present, there was no clear indication of how long support would continue or how much would be provided.

The Deputy Chief Executive and S151 Officer confirmed that councils continued to have a good dialogue with Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), who continued to ask for monthly returns to see if COVID-19 funding was required. He further confirmed that there would be a Government Spending Review in the Autumn.

The Chairman asked if a more graphical representation could be provided with the report in future, so that it was easier for members to understand and compare performance over time. The Committee agreed this would be helpful and the Deputy Chief Executive and S151 Officer confirmed he would be able to provide a graphical format in future.

Resolved to note the treasury outturn position for 2020/21 and the challenging context of the financial environment in global markets in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic which pushed down both investment returns and borrowing costs.