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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I will make clear later my strong support in principle for alternative business structures. Some of the concerns expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, and others need to be addressed. I do not want to alarm the noble Lord, but I might actually support his Amendment No. 108C, which would require the licensing authority to look at some assessment of the impact of ABSs. I am particularly concerned about rural areas. Part of the procedure for approving alternative business structures might be to assess their impact more broadly. I do not particularly agree with the wording of the amendment because if matters have been validated through that procedure, there is no point in rationing the licences. But when individual applications are being considered, it is important that the wider impact is taken into account. This needs to be part of the Government’s thinking and, on principle, I strongly support the provisions on ABSs.