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Legal Services Bill [Lords]

The problem with that argument is that in the rest of the Bill, it has been decided that entities should be regulated, so there is a carve-out from the very principles that the Government introduced in the Bill. Let us face it: the provision was not in the Bill when it was first introduced in Parliament—it was included after union lobbying. To give an example, if a trade union provides for its in-house legal team litigation and advocacy services relating to occupational disease cases, and evidence comes to light that a union employee has been acting improperly, it may not be clear whether the in-house lawyers providing the litigation and advocacy services were aware of, or complicit in, any improper action. If the SRA regulates only the in-house solicitor, and not the union, the SRA's investigatory powers in seeking information from union officials and interviewing others to find out whether a solicitor was involved would be limited. Any investigation would be compromised, and it may not be possible for the SRA to determine appropriate responsibility and take the relevant disciplinary or regulatory action.