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Legal Services Bill [HL]

There is no doubt that in the present circumstances the office of Legal Services Ombudsman plays a useful and necessary function. Consumers can be confident that should a complaint against a lawyer not be handled well by the lawyer’s professional body, there is an appeal mechanism open to them. But we are not talking about the current situation. The point about Part 6 is that we are establishing a completely different system for the handling of complaints against lawyers than the one currently in use. The noble Lord was not able to be with us when we talked about what he refers to as building on the corpse of the previous system. We see it more as building a new system. We take the expertise that may be available from the current system; I hope that he will have the chance to read my comments about the way in which we propose to do that and the importance of making sure that the system continues for the next three years while we develop the new system. The current system must not be unable to deal with complaints because for various reasons staff have not been able to participate and do not want to continue because they do not consider they have a future. We are creating a new organisation, but taking expertise where that is available. Although the organisation does not, as the noble Lord said, have the greatest of reputations, that does not mean that everyone in it is unable to perform some of the functions we expect to see in the new organisation. When looking at how to achieve a new organisation, it is important to use the experience and expertise available while recognising that the cultural change and the way the organisation operates is critical. No longer will complaints against lawyers be sent to their professional body to be considered or determined. All complaints will be dealt with by an independent complaints handling body, which will be administered by an independent board. So immediately the system looks very different from that which we have today. In drawing up the new system, we have had regard to the Financial Ombudsman Scheme, which is regarded as good practice, and to the guidance of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association. A key feature of our ombudsman scheme, and that of the Financial Ombudsman Scheme, is that the decisions of the ombudsmen are final; if accepted by the complainant, they bind both parties. Ombudsman schemes, such as the one that we are creating, are meant to provide a free, quick and simple service to complainants so that they can resolve a dispute without the need to go to court. My noble friend Lord Whitty has talked about the importance of that. A complainant will have a choice as to whether he or she accepts the decision. If the choice is to reject the decision, the complainant can pursue the complaint through the courts. But if a complainant chooses to accept the ombudsman’s decision, it is binding on both the respondent and the complainant. The choice rests with the complainant, which is why we do not consider it appropriate or desirable to see a formal review of this sort against an ombudsman’s decision. Our view is supported by the British and Irish Ombudsman Association. It would be inappropriate for the OLC to be considered akin to approved regulators in handling complaints. It will have a very different relationship with the LSB from the approved regulators. The LSB will appoint members of the OLC and will approve all its rules. In certain circumstances, as we have already discussed, it could remove members. It would be wrong to say that the OLC should be treated like an approved regulator, but it would be equally wrong to say that the OLC will operate like the Law Society’s Legal Complaints Service. As I have already indicated, this is not a rebadging exercise. The OLC will not work like the LCS or indeed any other approved complaints-handling procedure. It will be a new and independent system working in the interests of consumers set up under the ombudsman guidance. That does not mean that mistakes do not happen from time to time. How these mistakes are dealt with is a matter for the OLC, and I expect that, like any other responsible organisation, the OLC will have internal management arrangements to deal with this. If it is looking for a model to develop an internal complaints-handling service, it might look to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which has an independent assessor who considers complaints about the service provided by FOS staff. But he does not consider the merits of a decision made by the ombudsman. The terms of reference for the assessor do not allow him to consider the merits of an investigation. The FOS system, like the one that we are creating in Part 6, makes it clear that the decision of the ombudsman is final and, if accepted by the complainant, binding. I am not persuaded that management decisions of the OLC should be set out in the Bill. We believe that with the best practice—for example, with the Financial Ombudsman Service—the OLC should establish internal arrangements for handling complaints, but these are management decisions not to be set out in the Bill. An internal arrangement to deal with complaints about the service should not extend in any way to a review of determinations made by an ombudsman. This is already clearly a view supported by the British and Irish Ombudsman Association and consumer organisations. On that basis, I hope that the noble Lord withdraws his amendment.