Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 108C: 108C: Clause 81 , page 47, line 25, at end insert— ““( ) appropriate provision requiring the licensingauthority to consider the likely impact of a proposed application on access to justice when determining the application,”” The noble Lord said: The amendment raises an issue rightly debated at considerable length during the clause stand part debate initiated by the noble Lords, Lord Thomas of Gresford and Lord Maclennan of Rogart. It concerns the desirability of having a specific access to justice provision in Part 5. Clause 1(1) contains an access to justice provision as one of the seven objectives that the Legal Services Board and other authorities designated under the Bill have to take into account. However, it is only one of seven; and in the balancing exercise by a regulatory authority, it might not carry the weight that we believe it ought to carry when designing an alternative business structure under Part 5. I apologise to noble Lords for rehearsing some of the arguments that have already been raised; but this amendment inserts a specific access to justice requirement at page 47, line 25. It makes clear that, in itself, access to justice should be a crucial component in the design of any alternative business structure. I make no apologies for quoting the Law Society’s response to the Government’s consultation paper In the Public Interest: "““New entrants into the market may bring about some benefits. However, there is a risk that there may be long-term structural effects that destroy service provision and the fabric of small communities. Put bluntly, new entrants might cherry pick more profitable and less complex areas of work, driving down the profitability of established local firms who offer a full range of services at the heart of their communities. If that happened, where would consumers go for advice on complex matters?""The Law Society’s conclusion is that whilst the regulatory issues concerning new service providers can be dealt with … there are very serious risks to access to justice from the uncontrolled admission of new entrants. Existing practitioners report that in many areas, a number of existing firms serving small localities would be in jeopardy if large institutions entered the market for legal services. We believe that the Government needs to carry out much greater research into the likely impactof liberalisation before taking … decisions on the wayforward””." The Joint Committee of both Houses that examined the draft Bill under the chairmanship of my noble friend Lord Hunt of Wirral also drew attention to this issue. It stated that it was, "““persuaded by some of the evidence suggesting that some of the reforms may reduce geographical availability. We consider that ABSs may reduce the number of access points for legal services and we see this as a potential problem. There is clearly an issue here and the only conclusion we are able to draw is that we cannot be sure how it will work out. We recognise that there may be a trade-off between the quality and accessibility of advice—for example, a small, high street solicitor in a rural area may not be able to provide the specialist advice a client requires. We recommend that the Government amends the draft Bill to ensure that the impact of ABSs on access to justice, particularly in rural areas, informs the decision-making process for licensing an ABS firm””." Our amendment does not assume that the consideration of the impact on access to justice would be fatal to an application for a licence; it is simply intended to ensure that the licensing authority considers that aspect when an issue seems likely to arise and gives it full weight in determining its application. I beg to move.