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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I strongly agree with my noble friends. Indeed, it may reassure my noble friend Lord Campbell of Alloway to know that in the next group we debate the important Amendment No. 33A. In the mean time, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Kingsland on Amendment No. 33. It is vital to get the balance right and it will have given a great deal of pleasure to the Minister’s many friends on all sides of the House to see her happy, smiling face looking out at them from page 6 of the current edition of the Law Gazette. Underneath her beautiful photograph is the caption ““Ashton not closing the door””. I hope that we are pushing at a door not half closed but half open. Although the Minister rejected the amendment tabled on the previous day in Committee—namely, that the board should act in partnership with the approved regulators—she will give careful consideration to how best we can reflect proportionality in the legislation. I am even more encouraged by this week’s edition of The House Magazine. I make these quotations to show not only that I monitor these important publications, but that a clear message is coming from the Government. The Minister’s colleague Bridget Prentice, in her article headed ““New champion in Chambers””, says: "““Good regulation of legal services should be tailored to the needs of the specific marketplace. It should be risk-based and proportionate””." Later in the article she says, importantly: "““But it will not replace day-to-day regulators like the Bar Council or the Law Society—instead it will work with them to set high standards across the sector””." That is clear and welcome. At Second Reading, in summing up the debate, the Minister said that, "““in Clause 3(3)(a), we have tried to address the issue in the context of the work of the board. We think that it is appropriate, as opposed to using Clause 1 as noble Lords have suggested. Because we have talked about accountability, proportionality, consistency and so on, we think that that is a way to tackle the issues that noble Lords have raised””.—[Official Report, 6/12/06; col. 1208.]" We were making the point about independence, but the Minister is returning to the theme of proportionality. That is what the clever amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Kingsland is all about and I am pleased to see fellow members of the Select Committee in the Chamber. Unanimously in our joint report we echoed the important phrase of proportionality. We reported that the OFT had told us that the appointment of the LSB as an oversight regulator would be, "““a fundamental step towards ensuring that regulation is necessary, proportionate and meets the consumer interest””." The NCC, reflecting the views of consumer groups, was sure that, "““the LSB will act with a proportionate touch””." Sir David Clementi told the Select Committee that he would not describe the model that he and the Government are adopting, "““as light touch or heavy touch. Like others, I hope it is proportionate””." So the members of the Joint Committee reached the unanimous conclusion that, "““we hope that the LSB will act in a proportionate manner and in accordance with the framework envisaged by Sir David Clementi””." I hope that the Minister will be able to give us some comforting words because, as the president of Law Society, Fiona Woolf, pointed out, the Bill does not reflect the theme of proportionality. Although she accepts the challenge of the Bill providing the opportunity to create a modern, efficient and enabling regulatory framework that protects the competitiveness and innovation of our law firms, she is concerned that overlapping powers are proposed for the professional bodies as regulators. She rightly said that that could invite confusion and conflict. I hope that the Minister will give us some comforting words and say that the Government will work with us in Committee to try to find a way of ensuring not just a light touch, but that proportionality is maintained and that the Legal Services Board will be seen as the overseeing regulator but will leave day-to-day regulation to the Law Society, the Bar Council and the other key bodies. As we get into the Bill, we will discuss this in more detail, but some comforting words from her today would be much appreciated.