§ Mr. FrenchTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make it his policy to establish a body equivalent to the Solicitors Complaints Bureau as a statutory body.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe Government believe that the maintenance of professional standards is, in the first instance, for the professional body concerned. The Law Society has since 1986 delegated its statutory powers in respect of professional misconduct to the Solicitors Complaints Bureau. Matters of discipline and serious breaches of the society's rules of professional conduct are for the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, a statutory and independent body with a lay majority, to consider and act upon. In order to ensure that public confidence is maintained, the Government also established the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman, under provisions in the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. The ombudsman acts as an effective independent scrutiny of the way in which the Law Society carries out its statutory duties; he also has the same powers in respect of the General Council of the Bar and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.