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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am happy to deal with the phrases that I use in trying to express myself—perhaps not as a lawyer. I spoke about a light touch and I think I also used the expression ““a rap across the knuckles””. I was trying to point out that, even within a concept such as public censure, I could imagine circumstances where that would not lead to the kind of catastrophic consequences that the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, raised in his example. I stand by that and I consider it to be appropriate. As regards littering the Bill, that is an expression I use. I am from Lancashire, so what do you expect? I was trying to indicate that if one looks across this legislation one can see examples of that. I turn to the nub of what the noble Lord has said about the partnership between the two. My honourable friend Bridget Prentice, who is the Minister with responsibility for this Bill, rightly indicated, as I hope I have done, that the nature of the relationship between the supervisory regulator and the approved regulator is very important. They should work in concert; we expect them to develop this regulatory framework together. We have tried to set out the framework—whether I have been successful or not in doing so—to enable that to happen. At the end of the day, the supervisory role is real. The body must be able to act if things have gone wrong. It is about regulation. Inevitably, through legislation we focus on the negative side of the equation because we are looking at what might go wrong and the circumstances that might arise. We do not know what they will be; as I have indicated, I trust that they might never happen, but they might. It is quite important that we are clear, for the benefit of the approved regulators and for the supervisory body, so that if those circumstances arise, powers are available to the supervisory regulator. I hope they work closely together and I hope the supervisory body never needs to use these powers. The purpose of the exercise is to set good regulation that will be acclaimed by the public, by the consumer and, I trust, by the profession.