Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, for spelling out so succinctly the issues that he has raised in his amendment. I am not familiar enough with the Court of Appeal decision. I will look with interest at what he has said and I hope that I will get more information on that. I will try to deal with the points that the noble Lord raised, which were supported by other noble Lords. I agree completely that the board, the approved regulators and the OLC should take a reasoned approach in balancing any impact on the regulatory objectives. It is also important that these bodies operate transparently and are properly accountable. We think that the Bill already achieves what the noble Lord primarily seeks to do with this amendment. In Clause 3, which has been referred to, and Clause 27, the board and the approved regulators must have regard to, "““the principles under which regulatory activities should be transparent, accountable, proportionate, consistent and targeted only at cases in which action is needed””." In Clause 113, the OLC must have regard to, "““any principles appearing to it to represent the best practice of those who administer ombudsman schemes””." Those principles apply to all regulatory activities wherever these bodies balance those regulatory objectives. We believe that the principle behind what the noble Lord is seeking is well founded in the Bill. The Bill gives good grounds to those who would wish to challenge the decisions that have been made, because it is laid out extremely clearly. We have added that the board has to produce an annual report. Among other things, the report will deal with the question of how far the board has met the regulatory objectives that were set for it. The Bill also sets out a number of provisions dealing with accountability, in particular the extent to which the regulatory bodies have complied with the regulatory objectives. The noble Lord, Lord Maclennan of Rogart, said, echoing the words of the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, that it is a rudimentary requirement of natural justice that the board should give reasons for its administrative decisions. I agree; it should and it must. We do not need to set that out in the Bill, but it will be important, for two reasons. First, as the noble Lord reasonably says, people have to know the basis for the decisions—the reasons why they have been made—in order, if they so wish, to challenge them. Secondly, when decisions have been made, it is important that those affected by them know exactly what they are. I agree with that. It is a principle of natural justice; it is also good practice in regulatory regimes and in the administration of organisations.