Clause 4
Legal Services Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
Obviously, I agree that it is part of the board’s remit to work with approved regulators to achieve high standards across the legal sector. That was the view of the Joint Committee on the Draft Legal Services Bill and we accepted its recommendation. The Bill explicitly states that intention in clause 4. However, I have a different view on the nature of that duty. Clause 4 states:
“The Board must assist in the maintenance and development of standards”
in relation to the regulation and the education and training of people authorised by the regulators. I think that that gives the approved regulator the necessary freedom to tailor its standards and training regimesin a way that is appropriate to its own area of legal expertise.
Although I heard what my hon. Friend had to say, I think that it is appropriate to use the word “assist” because it is about proportionate regulation. We have discussed proportionality during the proceedings of the Bill. The same must apply in this area. If we said that the board had a duty to “ensure” the development and maintenance of those standards, it would become a more interventionist approach. I am not surethat that sits comfortably with effective oversight regulation. Therefore, I hope that the hon. Member for Huntingdon will withdraw the amendment in the knowledge that we are attempting to agree that education and training standards are important, but that assistance is the right way forward for the board’s role in relation to the approved regulator.