Hansard

Section 20 currently allows Scottish ministers to intervene in the event of concerns being raised that a regulator is failing to exercise their regulatory functions in a way that is compatible with the regulatory objectives, and to take certain specified measures. Amendments 112 to 116 and 118 to 120 have the effect of transferring that power from the Scottish ministers to the Lord President. Although the regulation-making power allowing the Scottish ministers to specify intervention measures that may be taken other than those already provided for is retained in section 20(6), amendment 122 ensures that both the Lord President and other stakeholders have a greater role in the process. That amendment provides that the Scottish ministers can exercise the regulation-making power only at the request of the Lord President, who must, before making such a request, consult regulators, the consumer panel and other persons considered appropriate, as well as adhere to certain publication requirements. Those provisions will ensure an appropriate level of stakeholder involvement in the exercise of the delegated power. The amendments to section 20 have been welcomed by both the Law Society and the senior judiciary in their recent correspondence to the committee. The amendments alter the sanctions available, with amendment 117 removing the ability to impose a financial penalty from the measures available to the Lord President. Amendments 68, 121, 146, 310 and 311 make consequential changes to provisions in the bill. Amendment 123 makes a small technical change. Section 19, together with section 20, provides an important mechanism so that there is a process for review of regulatory performance if concerns are raised about a regulator not upholding the regulatory objectives, with a process allowing specified intervention measures to be taken following such a review. Amendments 93 and 94 reflect the change of powers to the Lord President that have already been discussed. Amendments 95 to 99, 101 and 106 to 111 make further changes to alter the bodies that may seek a review of the performance of a legal services regulator, the criteria for a review, the process for conducting a review and the types of things that a performance review can include. Amendment 99 makes a technical change to clarify that a regulator must provide information about performance when requested to do so by the Lord President in connection with a performance review or a decision as to whether to conduct such a review. Amendment 100 requires that information to be provided within 28, rather than 21, days. 10:30 Amendments 102 and 104 insert new provisions into the bill to impose duties on persons other than the relevant regulator in relation to information that they hold relating to the performance of that regulator. That will ensure that the Lord President has all the necessary information available when conducting a review. Amendment 105 allows the Lord President, when a regulator has failed to provide the information within 28 days, to add such a failure to the existing review. However, the regulator must be given an opportunity to respond to the Lord President’s proposal. Amendment 103 requires the Lord President to consult such bodies as are considered appropriate in conducting a review of performance. Amendment 109 requires the Lord President to also send a copy of the report to the relevant regulator and to any requesting body, and amendment 110 requires the Lord President to inform a body that has requested a review of any decision not to conduct such a review. Amendments 98, 101, 106, 107, 108 and 111 make consequential changes. Amendment 459 inserts new section 86A into the bill. The new section allows the Lord President to make rules in connection with the exercise of their functions under part 1 or 2 of the bill. Before making rules, the Lord President must consult the consumer panel and each category 1 and category 2 regulator.? The Lord President is required to publish the rules, once finalised. That transparency provides a check on the exercise of the Lord President’s power.? I will move on to discuss technical amendments that reflect the substantive changes that have been made to sections 19 and 20 in relation to powers being with the Lord President. Amendment 147 enables the Lord President to direct a new regulator, or any regulator that acquired rights for its members to provide legal services—other than rights to conduct litigation and rights of audience—under the 1990 act, to change its regulatory scheme in the manner directed by the Lord President. In other cases, the amendment provides that the Lord President can ask Scottish ministers to make regulations to make provision to change the regulatory functions or the way in which those functions are exercised. Amendments 148 to 152 are consequential or technical amendments, as are amendments 156 to 178, with the exception of amendment 169. Amendment 169 requires the Lord President, when proposing to remove all the regulatory functions of either an accredited regulator or a body that has acquired rights for its members to conduct litigation and has acquired rights of audience, to give notice of that intention to authorised providers and to consult them. I move amendment 68 and ask members to support the other amendments in the group. Amendment 68 agreed to. Amendments 69 to 73 moved—Siobhian Brown—and agreed to. Section 13, as amended, agreed to. Section 14—Compensation funds Amendments 74 and 75 moved—Siobhian Brown—and agreed to. Section 14, as amended, agreed to. Section 15 agreed to. Section 16—Annual reports of category 2 regulators Amendment 76 moved—Siobhian Brown—and agreed to.