---

Small Claims (Courts)

: There is a whole set of issues, and I appreciate that this is not a debate about the profession of solicitors. Perhaps we could have that debate, which I would welcome, because although things have improved, the insistence of the Law Society on self-regulation and so on has not been in the public interest. Things have got better, including in the field of personal injury. However for the reasons given by my right hon. Friend and others, all I can report is that, because of the demand on those who are good, it is still sometimes difficult for people to get the advice they require, when and where they need it, at no cost if they cannot afford it or at a cost they can afford. I do not know about other hon. Members, but I select from my own experience—and what other people retail to me—those solicitors whom I recommend because they have done a good job and done so competently, but I do not include every person who holds themselves out to do such work. That is a difficulty and a weakness. Those were meant to be entirely introductory, foothill-type, points, but they have clearly engaged the hon. Member for Hendon and there is further debate to be had. In response to his intervention, I say that I understand the debate about whether the compensation culture is overstated and about the number of people involved. The reason why a lot of people do not go down the road of taking action is that they find it too difficult, or are thwarted as they go. However, there is still a culture—one has only to look at commercial advertising on television—of encouraging people to make complaints and to think that everything ought to be risk-free, whether it is the local children's playground, a swimming pool or whatever else. Yesterday, the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) suggested, in a controversial move, legislation for regulating the temperature of baths, which I thought was on the wrong side of the argument.