Clause 8
Legal Services Bill [Lords]
9:15 am
Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Solicitor General (Also Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry), Law Officers (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Huntingdon, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 221, in clause 8, page 3, line 31, at end insert—
‘( ) The approval of the Lord Chancellor is required for the appointment of a person to be the chairman or to be another member of the Panel.’.
We now move on to the consumer panel, whichwas debated at some length in the other place. On reflection, we think that several items need to be considered again or in a slightly different way. The amendment was proposed to us by the Law Society, and we tabled it as a probing amendment. It would make the Lord Chancellor responsible for approving appointments to the consumer panel, to safeguardthe panel’s independence. We need to ensure that appointments to the consumer panel are made andare seen to be made objectively. That is why we need someone—the amendment suggests the Lord Chancellor —to oversee the appointments process.