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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I agree with the noble Lord about making sure that members of the Consumer Panel should be appointed in accordance with the prevailing standards of public appointments. I also agree that public advertisement is often the best way of ensuring that the most suitable candidates are given the opportunity to apply for the relevant positions. The noble Lord will not be surprised to hear that I do not want to set out the detail in the Bill. It is not in line with the way in which consumer panels in other walks of regulatory life have been dealt with; equally, we want to make sure that the prevailing standards of the time can be used. As I have said, and as the Government believe, public advertisement is often the best way of doing this. The appointment provisions for membership of the consumer panels of other regulators, such as the Financial Services Authority and the Office of Communications, do not set out the detailed procedures to be followed. The arrangements appear to work well, which is why we have chosen to follow that route. I am not aware of any criticisms about the appointment of consumer panel members in either case. Those were the precedents that we sought to follow. What lies underneath the amendment is the desire to make sure that the processes and procedures used are transparent and can be examined. When producing its annual report, the board should include details of the Consumer Panel, how it is operated and how the functions for the panel and the board have been discharged; we would also expect it to include information on the appointment of members. Thatis the best place in terms of transparency and accountability—the board is of course accountable to Parliament through its annual report—to ensure that this has been dealt with effectively and well. Including this information in the board’s annual report to Parliament, which can then be challenged, is better than putting it in the Bill. I hesitate to put it in the Bill, as we should enable best practice to be pursued. I hope that the noble Lord will feel that including this information in the annual report, so that it can be challenged, will make the process crystal clear and transparent.