Clause 11
Legal Services Bill [Lords]
1:00 pm
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. I, too, have had some research done during the break, and he is quite right. I inadvertently misled the Committee by quoting section 16(3) of the 2003 Act, when in fact, as he rightly points out, section 16(6)(b) allows the Ofcom consumer panel to carry out research into matters that it perceives as relevant to its work. Of course, the consumer panel also has a memorandum of understanding with Ofcom regarding the scope of the panel’s research, which it set out at the beginning of its year. On that basis, I am happy to put the record straight on that aspect of the debate.