Probate Services (Approved Bodies) Order 2009

I thank the Minister for introducing the orders. I also commend him on confessing that he has devoted three hours to being briefed on this very detailed legislation—it shows extraordinary assiduity and devotion to duty. And I commend him on declaring his interest, albeit it is a fairly remote one. The ACCA is the third body to have applied under the Act to provide probate services. Two previous bodies have done so, and the Minister has stated that one of them has so far granted 18 licences. I should be interested to know whether he can offer any predictions on how many more licences are likely to be granted in the light of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants also being able to provide such services, and whether the Government have made an estimate of what sort of percentage of the probate services market this might involve. My honourable friend Mr Bellingham spoke in another place about this market being worth some £440 million annually, and he reckoned that about 5 per cent of it might migrate to new providers. Obviously, we always believe in competition. However, this might have an effect on some of the small solicitors who are often dependent on these services. Having said that, we believe that it is right that they should face competition. But I should be very interested to know whether the Government have estimated whether the figures provided by my honourable friend are accurate. No doubt the Minister can tell us when he responds.