Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am most grateful to the noble Baroness and to the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen. I think that in my opening remarks I referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and I entirely accept that similar words are used in that case. I drew on the Scottish Bill, now an Act, only to emphasise that the principle established by the Financial Ombudsman Service has now been adopted in the context of legal services, and to underline that the Scots have gone further than simply using the words, "““fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case””," and have set out more detailed criteria about how those general words should be interpreted. I am not suggesting that what is good for the Scots ought to be good for us, but I believe that the discretion is unnecessarily wide and should be narrowed down in the Bill, either as has been done in Scottish law or in some other manner. That is the point that I seek to make. The noble Baroness has explained why she does not think that this amendment is necessary. I shall retire—in relation to this amendment only, I hasten to add—and reflect on that. Meanwhile, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave withdrawn.