Crown Solicitor's Office

95 The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (25 October 2018). Can the Attorney-General advise:

1. Why does the 2018-19 budget project around 50,000 fewer in-house lawyer hours for the Crown Solicitor's Office?

2. Why does the 2018-19 budget project 5,000 fewer out-posted lawyer hours? Are any agencies losing out-posted lawyers, and if so, which ones?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): The Attorney-General has provided the following advice:

1. & 2. The activity indicators published in the budget papers represents two issues;

The figures represent the current policy for legal staff to achieve a productivity target of 70% of all available hours to be spent on client legal services (noting however that actual productivity is well over 80%).

The reduction in hours also reflects the expected reduction in FTE's as a result of savings allocated prior to, and as part of, the 2018-19 budget.