Clause 29
Legal Services Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Henry Bellingham (Shadow Minister, Constitutional Affairs; North West Norfolk, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 245, in clause 29, page 14, line 26, leave out ‘prejudiced’ and insert ‘improperly constrained or influenced’.
It is vital that the representative functions of the approved regulators operate smoothly. The regulators must be proactive and imaginative, and we supportthe Clementi recommendations that the professional bodies separate their regulatory responsibilities from their representational role; that makes manifest sense. We support also the requirements in clause 30 that the board make rules on internal governance.
The amendment would ensure that the Legal Services Board interfered only with the regulatory functions of the approved regulators, not with the representative arms of those bodies. I am sure that that is Her Majesty’s Government’s intention, but I am concerned about the use of “prejudiced” in clause 29. For example, if a professional body properly provides a service to its members such as defending them in the event of disciplinary action, along similar lines to the work of the Medical Defence Union, one would hope that the regulatory arm would regard it as a perfectly proper exercise of the representative body’s role and that it would recognise the importance of properly representing people who face serious disciplinary charges.
However, the regulatory arm may take a different view, particularly if the defence service’s actions led to a number of people being cleared of disciplinary charges. In those circumstances, the regulatory board might argue that its effectiveness was being prejudiced by the representational side’s activities. For that reason, we are suggesting a better wording. The use of the word “prejudiced” in this context is too wide. It is an altogether stronger term than the phrase that we are recommending should be substituted for it: “improperly constrained or influenced”. That substitution would make a great deal of sense. We are putting in wording that more neatly and succinctly meets HMG’s requirements.