Legal Services Bill [HL]

I should be more than happy to give the assurance that I have very inventive aides who are looking at a number of issues raised in Committee. As I said at the beginning of this stage, for me as a Minister Committee is in many ways the most important stage, because it enables me to hear about areas of concern and to think about those that we can address. I am trying to say, although clearly not very well, that on this question I can see entirely what motivates noble Lords throughout the Committee who feel strongly that in what we say and do we must be very mindful of the potential detrimental impact or chilling effect—whatever language noble Lords choose to use. Noble Lords have mentioned rural communities and the issue of high street companies versus big companies that move in. I am very mindful of all those issues, which the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, has discussed separately with me. I am perfectly committed to look at the language in the legislation, as the noble Lord asks. In the regulatory objectives we must ensure that there will be no unintended consequences, but I am happy to look at what more we can do, in the context of what the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, seeks to achieve in his amendment. Noble Lords will find out what I have achieved by the next stage and make their decisions accordingly. I am trying to build up a picture of the areas of concern, precisely because those issues get raised again. The noble Lord may be irritated with me because we keep returning to the same issues, but unless I have the chance to look across the Bill to see what noble Lords seek to do, it will be very difficult to come back with solid proposals at the next stage, which is what I want to do.