My Lords, as a non-lawyer—perhaps the only one in the Room—I fully appreciate that the noble Lords’ interventions were about access to justice. As I have told the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, on earlier occasions, my legal qualifications rest on one of nine papers that I did for part one of my degree on English legal institutions. I remember champerty and maintenance from that paper. It came as quite a shock to me to find, in the process of the Bill, that not only was champerty not outlawed, it was now to become legal. But there we are—such is the passage of time.
4.30 pm
The noble Lord, Lord Beecham, set me a formidable exam paper, and I will try to answer the questions he raised. If I miss any out or do not answer with sufficient clarity for those who will read our deliberations, I will write to him and put a copy in the Library of the House so that noble Lords and interested parties can be fully informed. It is of course always a dilemma for government, because if they move at one speed they
are accused of moving too fast, yet at another speed they are accused of dragging their feet. I would say that there is nothing in these regulations that has not been well aired over the two-and-a-half years that I have been in this job, and they have been well discussed in the House.
I am pleased to see my old adversary, the noble Lord, Lord Bach, in his place. I hope he thinks that the young man who succeeded him is doing a—