Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 400: 400: Before Clause 158, insert the following new Clause— ““Board’s general duty to consult The Board must make and maintain effective arrangements for consulting representatives of practitioners and consumers on the extent to which its general policies and practices are consistent with its duty under section 3.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendments Nos. 400 and 401 have been brought back from Committee. They would impose a general duty on the Legal Services Board to consult—a duty that, as your Lordships are aware, is otherwise absent from the Bill. In our brief exchange on this matter in March, the Minister agreed that, "““it is essential that the board consults on important points of policy and the framework under which it operates””.—[Official Report, 6/3/07; col. 148-49.]" She concluded that it was an unnecessary amendment as the Bill already imposed enough specific duties to consult. At least part of her justification for her approach was that Clauses 8 to 11 already require the board to consult consumers, while her affirmation that she had accepted in principle what was then Amendment No. 38 meant that there would be a similar requirement to consider representations from approved regulators. Her acceptance in principle has unfortunately not translated into acceptance on paper, so the Bill imposes no general obligation on the board to consider representations from the professional bodies. This is just one of the reasons why the overarching duty to consult proposed by Amendment No. 400 would be so desirable. Nevertheless, the other important arguments still remain. Accepting the amendments would add to some of the changes that noble Lords have already made to the Bill by reaffirming the board’s role as a light-touch regulator by ensuring that the regulators would still have as much of a say as possible and by listening to the recommendations of Sir David Clementi. The Minister was reasonably receptive to these arguments in Committee. As what was Amendment No. 38 now looks unlikely to find its way into the Bill, perhaps she might consider these amendments more warmly. I beg to move.