Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 623A: 623A: After Clause 189, insert the following new Clause— ““Protected functions of the Lord Chancellor (1) Schedule 7 to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4) (protected functions of the Lord Chancellor) is amended as follows. (2) After paragraph 3 insert— ““3A Any function of the Lord Chancellor under the Legal Services Act 2007.”” (3) Part A of paragraph 4 is amended in accordance with subsections (4) to (7). (4) After the entry for the Juries Act 1974 (c. 23), insert— ““Solicitors Act 1974 Section 56””. (5) After the entry for the Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985 (c. 17), insert— ““Administration of Justice Act 1985 Section 9(7) Section 69(2) Schedule 3””. (6) In the entry for the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c.41)— (a) after ““Section 1”” insert— ““Section 53 Section 60””, and (b) after ““Section 72”” insert— ““Section 89 Section 125(4) Schedule 19, paragraph 17””. (7) After the entry for the Finance Act 1999 (c.16), insert— ““Access to Justice Act 1999 Section 45””.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, on the first day in Committee, Members of the Committee argued strongly in support of the need to preserve the independence of the legal professions. In particular, there were concerns that the responsibilities under the Bill should be exercised by the Lord Chancellor as opposed to a Secretary of State. The Committee had in mind the fact that the Lord Chancellor, by reason of his oath of office and the provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, has a range of unique duties and responsibilities not shared by other Ministers. Among those are that he must have regard to, "““the need for the public interest in regard to matters relating to the judiciary or otherwise to the administration of justice to be properly represented in decisions affecting those matters””." The Lord Chancellor must also be qualified by experience in law or Parliament and has a specific duty to respect the rule of law. The Government of course recognise not only the need to ensure that the legal professions are properly independent of government, but also that they can be seen to be independent. In recognition of this I agreed that the functions should be exercised by the Lord Chancellor, and the Government have brought forward amendments to give effect to that. Members of the Committee pressed me further to exclude the functions from the permitted scope of orders under the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975, in much the same way as was done in respect of the Lord Chancellor’s judiciary-related functions and functions relating to the Great Seal in the Constitutional Reform Act. Noble Lords will recall that at the time I resisted going that far. However, in looking carefully at the proposition, I am content to propose this government amendment which I hope achieves the outcome which noble Lords were seeking and does not have the deficiencies of the previous amendment. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to. Clause 194 [Orders, regulations and rules]: