Clause 51
Legal Services Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. It would be wrong in any legislation to restrict how moneys owed may be recovered. In that sense, we are being consistent with general legislative practice.
I understand why hon. Gentlemen might want assurances that the funds raised for representative functions are not used for regulatory ones. However, I cannot agree that the statute is the place to put an absolute requirement on approved regulators to ring- fence income derived from practising fees.
There are also a number of problems in putting an absolute duty on approved regulators in this way. There are also a number of problems in putting an absolute duty on approved regulators in this way. First, some flexibility is necessary in the way in which they set out their financial arrangements, and what might be right for one regulator might not be appropriate for another. For example, the amendment does not take accountof approved regulators who exercise only a regulatory function and do not operate in a representative capacity, such as the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. It would be unnecessarily restrictive to limit their financial arrangements in this way.
Some aspects of the practising fee income could be relevant to both regulatory and representative sides of an approved regulator. Clause 51 states that fees can be raised for the purpose of
“the promotion of the protection by law of human rights and fundamental freedoms”
and for
“the promotion of relations between the approved regulator and relevant national or international bodies, governments or the legal professions of other jurisdictions.”
Obviously, those activities benefit the approved regulator as a whole, and any distinction between regulatory and representative income becomes rather arbitrary. For that reason, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will withdraw his amendment.
The amendments are not appropriate, and it will be for the board to consider the internal governance rules as outlined under clause 30. Any concerns that the hon. Gentleman may have will be dealt with under that clause.