Westminster update: Law Society gives evidence to Lords committee

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Read our response to the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA) insight report into perceptions of the regulator.

We urge the SRA to focus on its core functions by:

• setting standards
• assessing and acting on risk
• taking action in response to non-compliance
• protecting consumers from harm
• protecting the reputation of solicitors

What you need to know

1. Law Society gives evidence to Lords committee on interpreters

Our head of justice, Richard Miller, gave evidence to the Public Services Committee in the House of Lords on Wednesday 23 October as part of its inquiry into interpretation and translation services in the courts.

Miller spoke about:

• the challenges solicitors face in securing interpreters
• how unclear lines of responsibility can make it difficult to know who should be booking interpreters
• how interpreters could have the quality of their translations checked

Miller also discussed the role of technology in providing these services. He argued technology like AI could have a role but there must be substantial safeguards built into their use.

There is also a concern over how AI tools in this space could be trained to ensure they can understand and translate technical legal concepts clearly.

Miller highlighted the work we're doing through our 21st Century Justice project to look at the role of AI.

Other witnesses included Susan Grocott KC and Philip Stott, co-chairs of the Bar Council’s Legal Services Committee.

They spoke about the declining quality of interpreting services and challenges with securing translation services for rarer languages and dialects.

When asked for recommendations to fix the system, all three witnesses said more funding is needed, along with better data collection and more quality assurance.

The inquiry continues next week with the Ministry of Justice giving evidence.

2. Law Society concerns about court resources raised in Employment Rights Bill debate

The government’s landmark new Employment Rights Bill had its second reading debate in the House of Commons on Monday 21 October.

The debate began with the deputy prime minister and secretary of state for housing, communities and local government Angela Rayner leaning on the impact assessment published hours before the debate to say that the bill is a “pro-growth bill”.

The assessment notes that improved rights will increase workers’ disposable income and argued that, by putting more money into workers’ pockets, this will support businesses and stimulate economic activity.

However, many Conservative MPs used the debate to argue that the bill would have a negative impact on SME growth.

James Wild (Conservative) interjected early in the debate to press the secretary of state on the assessment’s estimate that new employment measures would cost businesses £4.5 billion a year, asking how “loading costs on to employers” would help to boost growth and job creation.

Rayner’s response listed several businesses who have backed the bill.

During the debate, Douglas McAllister (Labour) highlighted our concerns about the lack of commitment for additional resources to meet the pressures felt in employment tribunals.

McAllister urged the government to “take on board the Law Society’s advice. We must properly resource employment tribunals and fully fund legal aid to allow access to this justice that we seek to introduce”.

Alongside the impact assessment, Rayner also announced a package of consultations on:

• strengthening statutory sick pay
• zero-hours contracts
• industrial relations
• collective redundancy
• fire and rehire

Chris Law (Scottish National Party) levied a scathing criticism of the bill’s rushed timeline.

Rayner was proud to note that the government had introduced the Employment Rights Bill within the first 100 days of government, but Law hit back by saying that “Labour has not gone far enough or acted swiftly enough with this bill. Gaps remain in its plans, with around half the promised reforms being kicked into the long grass through consultation, meaning that we will not see changes implemented until next year, the year after, or perhaps even 2027”.

The bill will now move to committee stage proceedings on a date yet to be announced.

3. Renters Rights Bill begins committee stage

The Renters’ Rights Bill began its committee stage on Tuesday 22 October, with members of the bill committee considering evidence from special interest groups.

The committee, chaired by Clive Betts (Labour), heard from groups representing landlords and letting agents, tenants and the Housing Ombudsman.

Witnesses on both the landlord and tenant side raised issues with court backlogs, the First-Tier Tribunal and the fact that the bill will not fix the underlying problem of supply in the rental sector.

Both Shelter and Citizens Advice stressed that although they want to see court reforms, they welcome the fact that this bill does not make changes to renters’ rights contingent on lengthy changes to the courts.

There was disagreement from witnesses on the impact of the bill, with the Letting Industry Council stating that they believe the bill will lead to more homelessness due to landlords exiting the market. They also noted that upfront rental payments were not demanded by landlords but offered by tenants.

These points were strongly disputed by Shelter who called these statements “an illusion”.

The dire state of housing legal aid was raised by Liz Davies KC who stressed that legal aid is at a crisis point. In her evidence she urged the minister to improve access to early legal advice and increase legal aid.

The Minister Matthew Pennycook (Labour) was last up to give evidence.

He committed to considering the increased burden on local authorities and whether this needs funding above that already noted in the bill. He added that a lot of the detail on what information is required for the landlords database will come forward in secondary legislation.

The minister was clear that he does not believe the bill will lead to an exodus of landlords from the private rental sector.

He was candid with the committee about the drafting in the bill around grounds for possession, finishing his remarks by noting that “we have a sense of what we want to see and how to address the risks, but until the system is properly bedded in, I do not think anyone will know what we have to do in the design to ensure that we have the balance right and will not therefore see the tribunal overwhelmed”.

The committee now moves to line-by-line scrutiny of the bill, starting next week.

4. Justice Select Committee: Liberal Democrats elect members

On Thursday 24 October, the line up of the new Justice Select Committee was completed when the Liberal Democrats announced who had been elected to take the party’s two allotted spaces on the committee.

Josh Babarinde and Tessa Munt will join committee chair Andy Slaughter and the other elected members on the committee.

Josh Babarinde, who also holds the role of justice spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, brings a wealth of expertise and experience working with at-risk youth in East London.

Babarinde volunteered as a youth worker before founding his own social enterprise ‘Cracked It’ providing at-risk youth and young ex-offenders work repairing smart phones.

Babarinde was named to the Forbes 30-under-30 list of social entrepreneurs and won numerous awards for ‘Cracked It’ including a Winston Churchill Fellowship.

Tessa Munt is a returner to parliament this year, having initially served as an MP between 2010 and 2015.

While Munt is not legally qualified in her own right, she worked extensively in a solicitor’s office before becoming an MP.

With the Justice Select Committee now fully in place, attention now turns to when they will begin their work and hold their first evidence sessions.

Coming up:

The chancellor of the exchequer will deliver her first budget on 30 October.

We are making representations to the Treasury on recommendations for supporting the justice system and legal services sector.

We are working closely with MPs and peers to influence a number of bills before parliament:

Arbitration Bill will have its report stage in the Lords on 30 October.

Employment Rights Bill will have its committee stage in the Commons on 26 November.

Product Regulation and Metrology Bill will have its committee stage in the Lords on 4 November.

Renters Rights Bill began its committee stage in the Commons on 22 October.