Archived decisions

ANNUAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY

1. In March this year, the Government issued guidance on local authority investments under Section 15(1)(a) of the Local Government Act 2003. This guidance took effect on 1 April 2004 replacing statutory controls on the range and nature of local authority investments, which were repealed. It applies to local authorities' investments for treasury management purposes.

2. Central to the new guidance is a requirement for the full Council to approve an Annual Investment Strategy before the beginning of each financial year. However, in view of the late publication of the guidance, the Government has agreed that, for 2004/05 only, formal approval should be obtained as soon as possible after the start of the financial year. In future years the draft Annual Investment Strategy will be reported to Cabinet and the Council with the other budget papers in February.

3. The Government's guidance categorises the investments available to local authorities into two main types, "specified" and "non-specified". "Specified investments" are those that offer both high security and liquidity; all other investments are "non-specified". The County Council's investment policy has always been that security and liquidity are paramount and, accordingly, only "specified investments" have been used so far this year, and this will continue. The details of the proposed Annual Investment Strategy for 2004/05 reflects this approach and is attached as an Appendix 2 to this report for the County Council's approval.

4. The document supports all the aims of the Council's Corporate Strategy, in particular Aim 5(Improving Services).

RECOMMENDATION:

That the County Council approves the draft Annual Investment Strategy for 2004/05 as set out in the attached Appendix 2.

T.K. THORNBER, CBE

Chairman