Accountability and Reporting

Legal services expenditure

Under Paragraph 11.1(ba) of the Legal Services Directions 2017, the  Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is obliged to make publicly available its legal services expenditure for the previous financial year.

This is a statement of legal services expenditure published in accordance with paragraph 11.1(ba) of the Legal Services Directions 2017.

Senate order on government agency contracts

Pursuant to the Senate Order on non-corporate Commonwealth entity contracts, agency contracts entered into by the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, which provide for a consideration to the value of $100,000 or more and which:

• have not been fully performed as at 30 June 2022, or
• which have been entered into during the 12 months prior to 30 June,

are required to be listed on the AusTender website. The report is titled Senate Order on Confidentiality in Procurement Contracts by Agency.

Some of the contracts listed contain confidentiality provisions of a general nature that are designed to protect the confidential information of the parties that may be obtained or generated in carrying out the contract.

The reasons for including such clauses include:

• ordinary commercial prudence that requires protection of trade secrets, proprietary information and the like,
• protection of Commonwealth material and personal information.

The Office has estimated its cost of complying with the Senate Order is $1,000. This is determined by calculating the time taken to collect, analyse and compile the information and applying salary costs and on-costs.

Senate Order – Financial Year 2021-22

Previous listings:

• Senate Order - Calendar Year 2021
• Senate Order - Financial Year 2020-21
• Senate Order - Calendar Year 2020
• Senate Order - Financial Year 2020
• Senate Order - Calendar Year 2019-20
• Senate Order - Calendar Year 2019
• Senate Order - Calendar Year 2018

Portfolio Budget Statements

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is a portfolio agency of the Attorney-General’s Department. The Portfolio Budget Statements 2020-21 are available on this website, in addition to past Portfolio Budget Statements.

Grants

We do not administer discretionary grant programs.

Gifts and benefits register

Between 1 July 2022 to 30 September 2022 the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Iain Anderson and acting Commonwealth Ombudsman, Penny McKay (1 July 2022 – 31 July 2022), did not accept any gift or benefit which requires reporting in accordance with the Australian Public Service Commission’s guidance. Officers at the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman did not receive any gifts or benefits of value greater than $100.

Remuneration paid to Executives

As a Commonwealth Entity we provide an annual update on the remuneration paid to the executives in the Office, accessible in our annual report.

Breaches of the APS Code of Conduct procedures

Under subsection 15(3) of the Public Service Act 1999, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Mr Iain Anderson must establish written procedures for determining APS Code of Conduct breaches and any sanctions to be imposed.

The Procedures are available on this website.