Property, plant and equipment held by the council but not directly occupied, used or consumed in the delivery of services. Examples of non-operational assets are investment property and assets that are surplus to requirements, pending sale or redevelopment.

A lease under which the ownership of the asset remains with the lessor; for practical purposes it is equivalent to contract hiring.

Property, plant and equipment held and occupied, used or consumed by the council in the direct delivery of those services for which it has either a statutory or discretionary responsibility.

For a defined benefit scheme, the increase in the present value of the scheme liabilities related to employee service in prior periods arising in the current period as a result of the introduction of, or improvement to, retirement benefits.

The levy made by precepting authorities, in the council's case the Greater London Authority, on the council, requiring the council to collect income from council taxpayers on behalf of the precepting authorities and paying over the cash collected to them. For business rates the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is also a preceptor.

Tangible assets that yield benefits to the council and the services it provides for a period of more than one year.

An amount set aside in the accounts for liabilities which are certain to be incurred in the future but cannot be quantified accurately at the balance sheet date.

Accounts should be prepared in accordance with the concept of prudence. Income should only be anticipated to the extent that it will be received, as cash or other assets, with reasonable certainty and full and proper allowance should be made for all known and foreseeable losses and liabilities.

One of the principal features of the Local Government Act 2003 was to provide the primary legislative requirements to introduce a new prudential regime for the control of local authority capital expenditure. The regime relies upon both secondary legislation in the form of regulations, and a prudential code which has been published by CIPFA.

Under the prudential framework local authorities are free to borrow without specific government consent if they can afford to service the debt without extra government support. The basic principle is that authorities will be free to invest as long as their capital spending plans are affordable, sustainable and prudent. As a control mechanism to ensure