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News and Comment February 2024

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18 February (Part 2) - A little bit of finance

Believe it or not there was a discussion on Finance at the Finance Scrutiny meeting but only at the end after the sessions on Comms and Customer Experiences. (†)

Councillor Brian Bishop (Conservative, Barnehurst) asked about investment training for the Pensions Committee and found that it is fully compliant with the regulations but none is provided for the Audit Committee. Councillor Bishop asked if he should be worried by that but Cabinet Member David Leaf said no because training for Members was in the pipeline.

Councillor Stefano Borella (Labour Leader, Slade Green) thought the subject of borrowing was very important with the Council’s debt standing at £223 million, some of it with very long maturity dates - up to 50 years - and asked if that was a normal situation for Councils. He was told that the loan portfolio was “well constructed” and entirely normal. There was some optimism about the Council getting its money back from a bad £12·8 million investment in the Lothbury Property Fund once it is rescued by UBS Triton. Councillor Leaf said that £6·2 million should come back to the Council but that was better than if the money had simply been left in the bank.

† I have just realised that my recording of the Finance meeting cut off after one hour and seventeen minutes. Precisely at the half way stage. The software automatically aborts after a transmission break. Back to the drawing board!

 

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