109Responsibilities of accountable authority—compliance with directions and related matters

109  Responsibilities of accountable authority—compliance with directions and related matters

 (1) The accountable authority of an entity must ensure that:

 (a) the entity’s arrangements for legal services, especially any litigation for which the entity is responsible, are handled efficiently and effectively; and

 (b) the entity has appropriate management strategies and practices to achieve compliance with these Directions; and

 (c) the entity’s legal services expenditure is appropriately recorded and monitored; and

 (d) by 30 October each year, the entity makes records of its legal services expenditure for the previous financial year publicly available; and

 (e) upon publishing the records mentioned in paragraph (d), the entity notifies OLSC of where it can find that information; and

 (f) legal services providers and counsel providing legal services to the entity:

 (i) are aware of these Directions; and

 (ii) are required to assist in ensuring that the entity complies with them; and

 (iii) are—through contractual arrangements, where possible—required to comply with these Directions; and

 (g) the entity gives reports as soon as practicable to the Attorney‑General or OLSC about any:

 (i) possible, alleged or apparent non-compliance with these Directions by the entity of which it is aware; and

 (ii) corrective steps that have been taken, or are proposed to be taken, by the entity; and

 (h) the entity reports to OLSC about the entity’s legal services expenditure and legal work, using a template approved by OLSC that specifies the matters to be reported, within 60 days after the end of each financial year; and

 (i) the entity promptly raises any matters required to be approved by the Attorney‑General; and

 (j) the entity promptly notifies the Attorney-General or OLSC of any matters of which they are required to be informed.

Note 1: Legal services expenditure is defined in section 4 to capture both internal and external legal expenditure. It includes expenditure on counsel, and on legal services obtained from a government legal services provider.

Note 2: The protection that is to be given to classified material is set out in the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF). It is advisable that the entity’s contracts with legal services providers require the providers to maintain an appropriate level of security for classified material (including electronic material) that comes into their possession, as well as material that is subsequently provided by the legal services provider to a third party, in the course of providing services to the entity. Any questions about the requirements of the PSPF can be made using the contact details provided on the Protective Security Policy Framework website, which, in 2025, was .