Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for her reply. I accept that some complaints, particularly those involving organisations under Part 5 of the Bill, may concern a multitude of disciplines and that somebody has to sift the problems out and place them into the appropriate professional compartments. At the same time, the way the clause is cast in the Bill is very wide and gives unnecessarily broad discretion to the OLC. I invite the Minister between now and Report to consider an alternative way of drafting that on one hand ensures that there will not be any loopholes in the system and on the other constrains the discretion of the OLC as much as possible. On Amendment No. 120A, I recognise that there must be some limit to the scope of the scheme. There are a large number of paralegals and, by the very nature of the circumstances in which they give their advice, regulating them might prove extremely complex and therefore extremely expensive. But I was reassured by the Minister’s observations that the Legal Services Board will keep the matter under review and, if it transpires that this is a growing problem, the question whether some form of regulation should be introduced will be reconsidered. In those circumstances, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. 119A not moved.] Clause 122 agreed to. Clause 123 [Complaints excluded because respondent's complaints procedures not used]: [Amendment No. 120 not moved.] Clause 123 agreed to. Clause 124 agreed to. Clause 125 [Parties]: [Amendment No. 120A not moved.] [Amendments Nos. 121 and 121A had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.] Clause 125 agreed to. Clauses 126 to 128 agreed to. Clause 129 [Continuity of complaints]: