Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, we are perfectly content with these amendments. In harping back to Schedule 16, I again welcome the fact that the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Temple Guiting, confirmed last week that all the matters of concern to us in that schedule would be dealt with, if not today by government amendments, then when the Bill crosses over to another place. I see both the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Temple Guiting, nodding, so I think that I can take that as a secure commitment on behalf of the Government. I raise one other matter with the noble Baroness. She may recall that on 8 May we had a debateabout an amendment which I tabled concerning the relationship between the regulatory obligations in Part 5 and the obligations that any ABS might have to its shareholders. The noble Baroness will recall that we tabled an amendment which said in clear terms that where there is a conflict between what the shareholders regarded as their obligations under company law and what the regulator regarded as his obligations under Part 5, the obligations of the regulator would be paramount. At the end of her response, the noble Baroness and I had an exchange about the appropriateness of my insisting on the amendment. The noble Baroness said that she was advised by the Department of Trade and Industry that if the amendment appeared in the Bill, it could produce certain conflictual situations. Thereafter, she undertook to furnish me with the DTI’s advice before Third Reading. She said: "““I am more than happy to set out in writing the concerns of the Department of Trade and Industry … If I set that out in writing, there will be plenty of time before Third Reading for the noble Lord to look at it””.—[Official Report, 8/5/07; col. 1334.]" I have not had that in writing. I recognise that I have not tabled an amendment on the matter now but I should be content if the noble Baroness could give an undertaking to your Lordships’ House that if the matter cannot be settled now, it will be one to which whoever deals with the Bill in another place will direct their minds.