Legal Services Bill [HL]

The Lord Chancellor, as it would be, is not intervening in the decision, except if the Legal Services Board considered that the chairman had breached their responsibilities in the precise ways laid out by the legislation. Before the Legal Services Board can remove that individual, it must go back to the Secretary of State and have that confirmed. At that point, the accountability comes into Parliament. We are talking about a lay person in a non-departmental public body operating in relation to an independent board. This is based on other models that noble Lords will be more familiar with than I am. The Legal Services Board must follow the legislation and the Secretary of State—or Lord Chancellor, as it will be—confirms that that has happened appropriately. It cannot dismiss the chairman; all it can do is say that they have not behaved properly within the legislation or accept the decision that has been made.