“1. That the Annual Treasury Management Report for 2016/17 and the outturn Prudential Indicators for the period from April 2016 to March 2017, be approved.

2. That it be noted that the financing of capital expenditure of £48.475m has been funded in accordance with the schedule set out in Table 1 of Section 4 of the submitted report, with a reduced financing requirement of £6.639m.

3. That it be noted that Capital Financing and Treasury Management were carried out in accordance with statutory requirements, good practice and in compliance with the CIPFA (The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) Prudential Code during 2016/17.

4. That, in respect of the return on investment and borrowing, the following be noted:

(a) The loan and investment portfolios were actively managed to minimise cost and maximise interest earned, whilst maintaining a low level of risk.

(b) £1.2m of interest was earned during the whole of 2016/17 at an average rate of 1.45%.  This is 1.25% over the benchmark of the average 7 day LIBID (London Interbank Bid Rate) and 1.12% over the average bank base rate.

(c) An average of £50.1m of investments were managed in-house.  These earned £0.27m of interest during the year at an average rate of 0.54%.  This is 0.34% over the average 7 day LIBID and 0.21% over the average bank base rate.

(d) An average of £9.8m of investments were managed by our former external fund manager.  These earned £0.14m of interest during the year at an average rate of 1.37%.  This is 1.17% over the average 7 day LIBID and 1.04% over the average bank base rate.

(e) During September 2016 £22.7m was recalled from our former external fund manager and £15m was invested equally across two short dated bond funds and £5m was invested into an enhanced cash fund.

(f) An average of £7.9m was managed by two short dated bond fund managers.  This earned £0.14m since it was invested from a combination of an increase in the value of the units and income distribution, giving a combined return of 1.78%.

(g) An average of £2.5m was managed by an enhanced cash fund manager.  This earned £0.02m since it was invested at an average rate of 0.86%.

(h) An average of £14.9m was managed by two property fund managers.  This earned £0.67m during the year from a combination of an increase in the value of the units and income distribution, giving a combined return of 4.49%.

(i) The level of borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) (excluding debt relating to services transferred from Essex County Council on 1^st April 1998) remained at the same level of £227.8m (Housing Revenue Account (HRA): £77.0m, General Fund (GF): £150.8m) throughout 2016/17.

(j) The level of financing for ‘invest to save’ schemes increased from £3.21m to £7.90m by the end of 2016/17.”