Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

            The Corporate Finance Manager introduced the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) 2019/20 Policy report and explained that local authorities were required, each year, to set aside some of their revenue resources as provision for the repayment of debt.

            The report recommended to Council later that day that the 2019/20 MRP policy remains the same as 2018/19, following two back to back reviews.  The Chief Executive added that this had been discussed in great detail at the all Member briefing the previous week.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the following be approved and recommended to County Council for Council Fund (CF) outstanding debt that:

·         Option 3 (Asset Life Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP in financial year 2019/20 for the balance of outstanding capital expenditure funded from supported borrowing fixed as at 31^st March 2017.  The calculation will be the ‘annuity’ method over 49 years.

·         Option 3 (Asset Life Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP in 2019/20 for all capital expenditure funded from supported borrowing from 1^st April 2016 onwards.  The calculation will be the ‘annuity’ method over an appropriate number of years, dependent on the period of time that the capital expenditure is likely to generate benefits.

·         Option 3 (Asset Life Method) be used for the calculation of the MRP in 2019/20 for all capital expenditure funded from unsupported (prudential) borrowing or credit arrangements.  The calculation will be the ‘annuity’ method over an appropriate number of years, dependent on the period of time that the capital expenditure is likely to generate benefits.

(b)       That the following be approved and recommended to County Council for Housing Revenue Account (HRA) outstanding debt:

·         Option 2 (Capita Financing Requirement Method) be used for the calculation of the HRA’s MRP in 2019/20 for all capital expenditure funded by debt.

(c)        That the following be approved and recommended to County Council that MRP on loans from the Council to NEW Homes to build affordable homes through the Strategic Housing and Regeneration Programme (SHARP) (which quality as capital expenditure in accounting terms) be as follows:

·         No MRP is made during the construction period (of short duration) as the asset has not been brought into use and no benefit is being derived from its use.

·         Once the assets are brought into use, capital repayments will be made by NEW Homes.  The Council’s MRP will be equal to the repayments made by NEW Homes.  The repayments made will be equal to the repayments classed, in accounting terms, as capital receipts, which can only be used to fund capital expenditure or repay debt.  The capital repayment / capital receipt will be set aside to repay debt, and is the Council’s MRP policy for repaying the loan.