§ Lord Benson asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they will publish the responses received on the three Green Papers on the legal profession.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)My Lords, I shall be publishing a synopsis of the responses and, of course, those who respond are welcome to publish their contributions, as many have done already. However, I doubt whether it would be practical for the Government to publish all the responses, bearing in mind that there are more than 2,000, and that each individual or organisation would have to be asked for permission.
§ Lord BensonMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord for that information. I wonder whether he would be willing to allow the responses to be examined at some place so that anybody who is interested in seeing them can study them and make an appropriate synopsis.
§ The Lord ChancellorMy Lords, I shall certainly bear that suggestion in mind. I note that the Royal Commission over which the noble Lord presided followed that course, but after seeking permission from the various people who had responded to its request for information and restricting the responses which were open for inspection to those not of a personal kind but of a general organisational kind suggesting various changes.
§ Lord Rawlinson of EwellMy Lords, has my noble and learned friend read all those responses?
§ The Lord ChancellorMy Lords, I have read a good number but I have not read all of them yet. However, I certainly intend to do so.
§ Lord MishconMy Lords, is the noble and learned Lord aware that much reliance has been placed by all those concerned on his assurance that he will be keeping an open mind on the proposals contained in the Green Papers and that he will be very ready to consider any counterproposals that coincide with the main aims which he seeks to perfect in those Green Papers?
§ The Lord ChancellorMy Lords, I am not sure whether I am aware of that, but certainly the position is that I have already studied a good number of the responses which contain various suggestions to which I shall be giving very careful attention.