Question on Notice No. 1630 Asked on 12 October 2011

MR BLEIJIE asked the Attorney-General, Minister for Local Government and

Special Minister of State (MR LUCAS)–

QUESTION:

With reference to the Office of Fair Trading—

(1) What is the total operating budget and expenditure for 2009-10, 2010-11 and the

budget for 2011-12 (reported by year and type)?

(2) What was the total number of FTE and actual staff as at 30 June 2009, 30 June

2010 and 30 June 2011 (reported by year and classification)?

(3) What is the total number of investigation files handled by each officer on average

per year for the last three years (reported by year)?

 

ANSWER:

I thank the Member for Kawana for his question.

During 2009-10 the total revenue received by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was

$33.896M, in 2010-11 it was $32.715M and in 2011-12 it is $37.143M. The

expenditure in 2009-10 and 2010-11 is balanced with revenue at the end of each

financial year. It should be noted these figures do not include corporate costs.

The increase in budget from 2010-11 to 2011-12 represents property charges paid to

Department of Public Works transferred from corporate costs to the business unit in

2011-12, an enterprise bargaining increase and carryovers. It should also be noted in

2010-11 the Residential Services Accreditation branch transferred to the Department

of Communities.

The total number of FTE and actual staff as at 30 June 2009, 30 June 2010 and

30 June 2011 (reported by year and classification) is as follows:

2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

FTE Actual FTE Actual FTE Actual

AO 253.2 259.0 264.8 271.0 234.5 243.0

OO4 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0

PO 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 1.0 1.0

SO 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 5.0

SES 2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

TOTAL 263.2 269.0 274.8 281.0 241.5 250.0

A number of structural and Machinery of Government changes involving the OFT

have occurred over the periods in question. OFT was subject to Machinery of

Government changes in March 2009 and February 2011.

On 1 July 2010, Trade Measurement transitioned to the Commonwealth and in

February 2011 the Residential Services Accreditation unit transitioned to the

Department of Communities. As such, these units are not included in the above

figures for 2010-11.

In order to perform investigative functions an officer must be appointed as an

inspector or authorised officer under the relevant legislation. The number of appointed

inspectors or authorised officers was 126 in 2008-09, 124 in 2009-10 and 112 in

2010-11.

The average number of investigation files finalised per inspector was 33 in 2008-09,

29 in 2009-10 and 28 in 2010-11.

It should be noted that while OFT does employ officers who work almost exclusively

on investigations, for many other officers investigative work makes up only a small

percentage of their role.

For example, the majority of officers based in OFT’s eight regional offices also

conciliate complaints, monitor businesses for compliance, conduct consumer and

business education activities, and work on public counters handling consumer

enquiries and receipting applications for licensing and registration services

administered by the OFT.

As an illustration of this work, OFT received over 17,000 complaints and monitored

over 9,000 businesses for compliance with legislation during 2010-11 as well as the completion of 3,095 investigation files.

 





legislation during

2010-11 as well as the completion of 3,095 investigation files.