Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, like the noble Lord, Lord Neill, believe that this is a very important matter. Equally, he was right to emphasise the importance of the Legal Services Board. I have already set out the reasons why the Government have clarified in statute what the consultation with the Lord Chief Justice will entail. I will come to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Neill, about the degree of involvement by the Lord Chief Justice in consultation. The noble Lord is really suggesting that the involvement is too great, which interferes with the separation of powers. I will return to that point in a moment. We should remember—the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, kindly reminded us—that the Commons amendments before your Lordships’ House are consistent with the original recommendation of Sir David Clementi’s report and with the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the draft Legal Services Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Neill, referred to the code of practice in the making of public appointments and said, quite rightly, that we can override that code today through primary legislation. However, the code arose because of concerns, over many years, about the way in which public appointments were made. The adoption of the code has led to a much more rigorous approach to public service appointments, and when we come to the Legal Services Board, it is important that the spirit of the code is adopted in this way. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Neill, is concerned, and I read out the detail of the involvement of the Lord Chief Justice in the consultation process. I assure the noble Lord that the Lord Chief Justice is content with that process, and although I do not agree, I understand the noble Lord’s point about the involvement of the Lord Chief Justice. However, I would argue that ““concurrence””, which essentially gives a veto to the Lord Chief Justice, gives him much more ownership of that appointment. I suspect that we will not agree on that matter. I say to the noble Lords, Lord Kingsland, and Lord Thomas of Gresford, that of course the independence of the judiciary is critically important. I know that noble Lords are disappointed that the office of Lord Chancellor is now held by a Minister in the House of Commons—I draw that distinction before the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, corrects me. However, I point to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which lays a clear responsibility on: "““The Lord Chancellor, other Ministers of the Crown and all with responsibility for matters relating to the judiciary or otherwise to the administration of justice must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary””." One cannot say fairer than that. We are determined to uphold the independence of the judiciary. The Legal Services Board is an important board: the noble Lord, Lord Neill, is right to suggest that. In view of its importance it is right that, at the end of the day, the Lord Chancellor, as a Cabinet Minister, is accountable to Parliament for that judgment, but it should be made in consultation with the Lord Chief Justice. We have discussed this on a number of occasions. I know that there is not agreement on all sides of the House, but the Government have listened and moved considerably. I hope that we will be able to take this through the House today.