Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for discussing the amendments in detail. My concern is about extending the period; I would not want to reduce incentives to try to tackle cases quickly and efficiently. Suspension prevents a solicitor from practising. It is important that determinations are made as swiftly as possible. I do not suggest that this would be a deliberate move, but there is always the possibility that if you have a longer period, people will take longer to reach a decision. I absolutely accept what the noble Lord said about serious and complex cases; he gave examples. I am not persuaded that an additional six months is required but I would welcome evidence—I am afraid that I am back to my evidence. If we could find more detailed evidence of the type of difficulties that are caused by having only the 12-month suspension period, I would be more than happy to look at this again in light of the noble Lord’s comments and come back to the issue if there was clearly a real need for a review. I can see exactly what the noble Lord is saying but we need more detail about the cases involved and so on; then I will come back on this. We should also bear in mind what I said about not wanting simply to extend and thereby perhaps create a different problem for those who have been suspended. I hope that the noble Lord will feel comfortable in withdrawing the amendment on that basis. I shall come back on this.