---

Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I would be delighted to consider that approach. The noble Lord knows that I am always reasonable. I was making the point that if we set up an independent body and give it, in legislation, the context in which it operates, the noble Lord must be able to think of instances in which he would not want the Government to come in to give guidance about what the body should do and how it should interpret aspects of legislation, because of the problem of independence that might arise for the organisation. That was the point that I was trying to make. We must be clear that if we set up a body to be independent, independent it must be. There is the fear that if the Government give it lots of guidance, independence is eroded. I think that it will be very clear to a professional body what that means. If it does not act in that manner, it can be challenged, but of course I am prepared to consider guidance where there is any merit in doing so and I will do so.