Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 43: 43: After Clause 11, insert the following new Clause— ““Representations by approved regulators and other representatives of practitioners The Board must make and maintain effective arrangements for consulting practitioners on— (a) the extent to which its general policies and practices are consistent with its duty under section 3; and (b) any policy statements on which it proposes to issue under section 48.? The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 44 and 45. The amendments would require the Legal Services Board, in addition to its existing requirement to consult the Consumer Panel, to consult appropriately with approved regulators and representatives of the regulated sector. The Bill already provides for the Legal Services Board to establish a Consumer Panel and to consult it extensively but it does not contain equivalent arrangements for consulting representatives of the regulated sector. In Committee the Minister resisted the suggestion that a practitioner panel should be established alongside the Consumer Panel. She argued that such a panel was unnecessary, given that, unlike in the financial services sector, where a practitioner panel has been established, there are already well established representative bodies for the legal profession. We accepted her approach. It is surprising, therefore, that the Government have not brought forward an amendment concerning consultation with the regulated sector. In Committee the Minister made it clear that, while the Government were opposed to the creation of a practitioner panel, on the grounds that there were already effective arrangements for representation, she accepted in principle my amendment, which would have required the Legal Services Board to give the same consideration to representations from approved regulators as it gave to those from the Consumer Panel. I refer her to col. 937 of Hansard of 22 January. The noble Baroness said at column 942 that she would come back to the issue on Report. She repeated her support for this in later discussions in Committee. On 21 February, in discussing an amendment concerning the ““polluter pays? principle in the Office for Legal Complaints, she said: "““I remind noble Lords that we have already accepted Amendment No. 38 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, which required that Clause 10 will apply mutatis mutandis to representations by proposed regulators, whether in the regulatory or representative capacities. That consultation will have more force as a consequence of my acceptance of that principle?.—[Official Report, 21 February 2007; col. 1117.]" The noble Baroness repeated the point on the last day of Committee when discussing an amendment to require the board to consult on the extent to which its policies are consistent with its duty under Clause 3 to act in accordance with best regulatory practice. She said: "““In accepting Amendment No. 38, we have accepted in principle that this requirement—" to consult— "““should apply also to representations from the approved regulators?.—[Official Report, 6 March 2007; col. 149.]" I recognise that the Bill already requires the Legal Services Board to consult before exercising a number of specific functions. For example, Clause 49 requires the board to consult before issuing policy statements. Clause 52 requires some consultation before the board exercises its powers in relation to regulatory conflict. Clauses 30 to 36, which provide powers about setting performance targets, making directions, issuing public censures and imposing financial penalties, require the board to consult the approved regulator concerned before exercising those powers. But there is no overall requirement to consult on the board’s overall approach to the discharge of its functions and, in particular, on whether the scale and scope of its proposed activities are appropriate and proportionate. These amendments would fill that gap. The general duty to consult suggested in Amendment No. 43 would require the board to consult about its general policies and practices. That is supplemented by the duty in Amendment No. 44 to establish effective arrangements for consultation with approved regulators and other representatives of authorised persons. I beg to move.