§ Mr. CameronTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, if he will make a statement on the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors and its role in reviewing complaints against solicitors. [44393]
§ Mr. WillsSolicitors are members of a self-regulating professional body, the Law Society. The Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) is a separate organisation set up by the Law Society to handle complaints against members. The Government have warned the OSS that failure to make significant improvements in performance could result in the powers to appoint a Legal Services Complaints Commissioner being activated.
§ Mr. CameronTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps he is taking to review the self-regulation of solicitors; and if he will make a statement. [44392]
§ Mr. WillsThe legal profession is independent of Government and as such it is the professional bodies which, in the first instance, are responsible for the regulation of their members. The Government have no current plans to alter this. However, we are aware of concerns about the standard of complaints handling by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS). For this reason, the Government have already taken reserve powers to impose standards for complaints handling on the legal professional bodies. These powers would allow for the establishment of a new post, the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, whose function would be to set targets for the handling of complaints by failing bodies. The Lord Chancellor is considering the OSS's performance against targets and any decision about the appointment of the Commissioner will be made in due course.