Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, for raising these issues. We recognised that the powers to require information currently contained in Section 44B of the Solicitors Act 1974 may indeed need to be revised in some way. We have some concerns; for example, the definition of third party is drafted very widely and may subject more people to the statutory obligation to disclose information than may be desirable or appropriate for the purposes of effective regulation. We would like to take the amendment away and consider it further with the Law Society and with the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland. Amendment No. 149B does two things. First, it allows the Law Society the power to require production of confidential or privileged information. We do not accept that, because there are real sensitivities in relation to allowing a regulator to over-ride professional privilege or have unfettered access to material of a confidential nature in the way proposed. At this stage, we are not persuaded that the Law Society has made the case for this power. Secondly, the amendment provides for an enforcement provision where production of information has been compelled under Section 44B of the 1974 Act, as amended. That would be achieved by the insertion into that Act of a new Section 44E. We think that there needs to be an appropriate enforcement mechanism for any new power to require information. Section 44E also requires more detailed scrutiny of the new offence that the Law Society has suggested. For that reason, I would like to take away that part of Amendment No. 149B, as well as Amendment No. 149A, continue our discussions with the Law Society and come back to the House at the next stage.