(6 years ago)
General CommitteesI agree, Mr Bailey. I will make one further point, to which the right hon. Lady alluded. We cannot assume that the solicitors who continue to engage in the process and are exempt because, in the words of the Minister, they are regulated separately through the Solicitors Regulation Authority, will all be as high-minded as one would hope they would be as solicitors of the Supreme Court. They might not be. My concern is not that we have dual regulation. Like the Minister, I very much hope that we avoid dual regulation. My concern is that we avoid creating opportunities for regulatory arbitrage.
For my sins, I think I served in Committee for both the Compensation Act 2006 and the Legal Services Act 2007. The point is that claims management companies were brought under regulation in 2006. Solicitors got a hefty improvement, or increase, in their regulation the following year.