Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 5: 5: Schedule 1, page 112, line 6, at end insert ““with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice”” The noble Lord said: Amendment No. 5 and the other grouped amendments raise issues which have been foreshadowed in the debate just concluded. The wording of Amendments Nos. 5, 7 and 12 is entirely that of the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen, whose name is rightly one of the names in support of the amendments. The issue is simply that the Bill as it stands puts too much power in the hands of a Minister both in relation to the appointment and the removal of the chairman and members of the Legal Services Board. This is so in spite of recommendations that came from the review conducted by Sir David Clementi and from the Joint Committee on the draft Legal Services Bill chaired by my noble friend Lord Hunt. In the final report of his review, Sir David concluded that these appointments should be made by the Secretary of State in consultation with a senior member of the judiciary. It is quite clear from looking at the evidence that was given to the Joint Committee in written form or orally that a large number of witnesses were extremely concerned about the proposed manner of appointment to the board. Those concerns were reflected in the committee’s final report. The Joint Committee recommended that appointments to the board should be made only after full consultation with the Lord Chief Justice. Your Lordships may recall the response of the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor at Second Reading when he referred to the Lord Chief Justice as being somebody who consumers, "““rightly see … as another lawyer in the process””.—[Official Report, 6/12/06; col. 1164.]" Of course, although he started out as a member of the legal profession, the Lord Chief Justice is a judge. He is, indeed, the head of the judiciary; and I hope that, on reflection, the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor feels that he may have overstepped the mark somewhat in making his observation. Nevertheless, it is not just a question of the factual situation; it is also a question of perception. It is vital that the system is seen to be independent and that appointments to the Legal Services Board are seen to be wholly independent of government influence. Running through the Bill, one cannot help but form the opposite impression. It is not just in appointment and dismissal that the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor has such a powerful role; there are other matters in relation to the operation of the Legal Services Board where, in our view, the Lord Chancellor—or the Secretary of State, as he is described in the Bill—has overweening powers. It is for those reasons that we tabled these amendments. Some powerful speeches were made at Second Reading about the importance of the independence of the legal profession. We heard a most eloquent speech from the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, in winding up on the previous group of amendments. I do not propose to add to that in any way because I think the subject has already been adequately dealt with by other Members of the Committee. We on these Benches regard this amendment as crucial. I beg to move.