Mahmood: No obvious problem
The collapses of SSB Law and Axiom Ince indicate a continuing need for the Legal Services Board (LSB) despite the government’s focus on cutting red tape, the Lord Chancellor said last week.
But Shabana Mahmood said the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was examining legal regulation to ensure it was “fit for purpose”.
Giving evidence to Parliament’s joint committee on human rights, she was asked by Conservative barrister Lord Murray if there was “room to examine” whether it was necessary to have as many legal regulators as there currently were – the LSB “could conceivably be abolished” and its functions transferred to other regulators, he said.
He added: “Or indeed is it worth ensuring they are confined to their specific core roles so as not to increase the regulatory burden on practitioners, which has grown and grown, as has the cost of regulation?”
Ms Mahmood said there was a government-wide “desire” to look at all regulators and the MoJ was playing its part in that.
“It’s not just to offer up things to get rid of, as it were, but more to satisfy ourselves that we’ve asked the question and we’ve stress-tested the arrangements that we’ve inherited and we’re sure they’re fit for purpose.”
Some departments have already decided to abolish regulators, she acknowledged, but said that would not be the case for every one.
She went on: “We’re asking those questions. We’re not asking from the perspective of ‘Is there a case for abolition?’ but more are these arrangements working properly and can we defend how these arrangements are working?
“Do they strike the right balance between the absolute necessity for good regulation of those who work in the legal profession against not getting in the way of economic growth.”
Ms Mahmood said a lot of the MoJ’s work on the rule of law was “growth-orientated as it’s such an important part of how we sell ourselves as a jurisdiction”.
But a difference to other departments was that the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and other frontline regulators were independent of government.
“It’s important to make sure you’re able to maintain that element of independence. And also when things go horribly wrong, as we’ve seen in the SSB cases and Axiom [Ince] and so on, where ordinary people have lost a lot of money, that actually where there are criticisms to be made, the Legal Services Board can jump in and try and sort things out.
“I haven’t seen an obvious problem here that isn’t being resolved. I’d be concerned about the impact on ordinary members of the public, particularly in those types of cases, but the LSB are working on it and I’m confident that the process at least should get us to a better answer.”
Speaking in March, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government was looking to cut back “unnecessary regulation”.
He said: “For too long, the previous government hid behind regulators – deferring decisions and allowing regulations to bloat and block meaningful growth in this country.”
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