Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am not sure that I can give the noble Lord that specific information now but, of course, I shall do so if I can. However, I stress the importance of considering the finances of the matter. I completely appreciate that that is an important part of it. We looked at the proposition that the OLC would become a postbox, as it were—that it would be the place where complaints were received but then were delegated back. I am discussing it in that context although I accept what the noble Lord says about what is proposed in the amendment. We discovered that the costs are about £12.3 million more than having a single complaints-handling body. I believe that paragraph 6.36 of the regulatory impact assessment that comes with the draft Bill goes through the costings in this context. It would not cost an additional£12.3 million if the OLC was able only to delegate complaints handling to, say, the Bar, but if it decided to delegate to other regulators—it would be completely consistent with the amendments to consider other regulators as well—we think that there would be greater inconsistency in approach and a greater cost. The more that you exempt regulatory bodies from this, the closer we come to the situation that we have at present. So there are cost implications. The noble Lord reasonably says that much pro bono work goes on at present. I completely accept that. But we need to make sure that we develop a system for dealing with complaints that goes across the professions. We recognise that there is a variation in quality—I have never suggested otherwise—but not to the extent that everybody can say that they are perfect. We have to consider how we develop the greatest confidence in the new system. We need to build on what has gone before to some degree but recognise that we are trying to set up something brand new. The regulatory impact assessment has cost elements. I am very happy to talk to the noble Lord further about additional information that I do not have with me now. The issue of principle is that we are creating an Office for Legal Complaints which will handle all the complaints. It will be able to buy in best-quality expertise from those who have experience of dealing with complaints. It will do so in a way that does not involve the delegation of its decision-making. It will accept responsibility for that decision-making. We believe that that is the right way to go forward. I hope that noble Lords will feel able not to press their amendments.