Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I think that I am happy to say that I did not participate in the debate in Committee on this topic and that I was not present. However, I have enjoyed reading, with loving attention, every word of that debate. We on these Benches entirely agree with what has just been said by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland. However, a practical problem occurs to me. During the debate on Monday, I declared my interest as head of a fairly large set of barristers’ chambers in London. The way the system operates at the moment is that, from time to time, the General Council of the Bar—which was accurately described a few moments ago by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland—has to react to problems that have arisen. On the whole, it reacts to them quickly. From time to time, I, as a head of chambers, receive an email telling me that there has been a change to the Bar Council’s code of conduct, which is an important document that is frequently cited in court when issues of ethics arise during cases. If a head of chambers is responsible, he or she ensures that the communication from the Bar Council is instantly circulated to all barristers and clerks so that it is known to all the barristers within the collegiate atmosphere that still exists in many sets of chambers. Therefore, within a very short time of a critical incident arising, a change in the code of conduct can be communicated and put into practice. If necessary, it can be done in a couple of days. Without the amendment, the legislation would seek the inevitable introduction of a cumbersome, bureaucratic procedure, which will mean that an approved regulator—whose code of conduct so far as I am aware has rarely been criticised—will not be able to sustain that very useful and active discipline. I cannot believe that that is the Government’s purpose, but it is the result of the legislation as it stands. I ask the Minister to respond to that point as it is causing some perplexity among those of us who practice at the Bar—led, as we have been from time to time with great practical effect, by people such as the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, who, when chairman of the Bar Council, took a leading part in ensuring that the code of conduct was kept up to date in the way I have described.