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Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I oppose the cumulative effect of the amendments but not because I do not think that the views of front-line regulators have to be taken into account and that consultation should be protected for them, but because Amendment No. 45 refers to treating front-line regulators in the representative as well as the regulatory capacity in the same way that Clause 10 covers the Consumer Panel. The procedures in Clause 10 are there for the Consumer Panel because there is an asymmetry of information and expertise, which needs to be taken into consideration in the Bill so that consumers have some right of representation. Were we to give the same representation rights to the Law Society and the Bar Council, for example, they would have the right to object to any decision of the board and would have the same degree of attention that the Consumer Panel is given in order to redress the imbalance in the normal relationship between the legal services and consumers. I do not fundamentally object to those bodies having a consultative relationship, but I object to the view that they should have the same protection that Clause 10 gives the Consumer Panel. That would unbalance what Clause 10 is intended to provide for the Consumer Panel.