A huge drop in the value of Spelthorne Borough Council’s commercial investments has been revealed in its draft statement of accounts for 2022-23, but the income they generate is “holding up well”.
A local authority can borrow for commercial return, as long as it primarily benefits those people in the authority’s area, writes CIPFA’s Mark Williams.
Senior consultant at CIPFA Mark Williams clears up what the Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities means for councils, and why the institute updated the framework last year.
A waste authority has borrowed £250m through the Public Works Loan Board after market turbulence halted immediate plans to issue a bond through the UK Municipal Bonds Agency.
We are living through uncertain economic times. This week, a group of chief investment officers gathered to discuss some of the main global issues which are likely to impact their decisions in coming...
A district council will now aim to keep its commercial property for the long term following changes to CIPFA’s Prudential Code, having previously planned to sell it and use the money to fund new...
Negative publicity surrounding recent failures by local authority companies should not be the only factor shaping the rules on where councils can invest their money, argues Chris Buss.
The Treasury has set out a series of sustainability standards for investments it will introduce as part of the government’s drive towards net zero carbon emissions.
A Scottish local authority has adopted a checklist for assessing prospective loans to other councils after receiving negative publicity over lending to the struggling London Borough of Croydon.
The UK’s “de facto” flagship industrial policy “appears to have completely failed” to encourage research and development spending, a group of Cambridge academics have found.
A government programme hoped to address long-term problems facing the UK economy is too focused on how much it spends, rather than the results it achieves, MPs have said.
Treasury managers face a number of considerations to balance their search for financial returns with ethical and environmental considerations, says David Whelan.
Joint ventures can allow an authority to share in some of the return from the development of their assets. But they need a solid strategic base to succeed
The government is “blind” to the extreme risks some councils have exposed themselves to through their commercial investments, a report by the Public Accounts Committee has claimed.
Council investment in land and buildings has dropped for the first time since 2011-12, according to data from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
A small number of councils buying commercial property purely to make money should not result in a complete overhaul of CIPFA’s guidelines on investment, chief executive Rob Whiteman has told MPs.
