Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 384: 384: Clause 141, page 74, line 2, leave out from ““to”” to ““approved”” in line 5 and insert ““the need to ensure that, so far as reasonably practicable— ( ) duplication of investigations is avoided; ( ) the OLC assists”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 385 and 386. These amendments relate to the important provisionsin Clause 141 on information-sharing. Similar amendments were raised in Committee by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, and my noble friend Lady Henig on behalf of the Law Society. Although I felt at the time that the wording of the amendment raised at that stage was not appropriate for the Bill, I was persuaded by the importance of the intended effect. As a result, we have worked closely with the Law Society to return with these amendments. I am happy to report that they represent a solution that both the Law Society and the Government are satisfied with. I hope that noble Lords too will be satisfied. It is of vital importance to the regulatory and complaints-handling framework that approved regulators and the OLC work in co-operation. I am confident that these amendments will facilitate that. Amendments Nos. 384 and 385 will strengthen the LSB’s duties when specifying the requirements which the OLC and approved regulators must meet when drawing up their rules on information-sharing. The LSB will now have to have regard to the need to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that the OLC and approved regulators, in sharing information, assist one another to perform their function. This elevation of ““desirability”” to ““need”” seems more appropriately to reflect the importance of the consideration that the LSB should give to these arrangements. Amendment No. 386 will require the OLC and approved regulators to consult each other prior to submission of rules or arrangements for LSB approval and to require that if there are unresolved disagreements, these are reported to LSB when the rules or regulatory arrangements are submitted for approval. This reflects the particular relevance of these matters to the relationship between the OLC and approved regulators and will encourage the OLC and approved regulators to reach a consensus on what information should be shared and how, and will therefore further facilitate a co-operative relationship. Amendment No. 386 covers much the same ground as Amendment No. 387, tabled in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland. Given the Law Society’s agreement on Amendment No. 386, the noble Lord may want to reflect on that when we get to his group of amendments. I beg to move.