Tailored Reviews of the Legal Services Board & Office Legal Complaints: Call for Evidence

The Ministry of Justice has launched a call for evidence to support the Tailored Reviews of the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). This is part of the broader government ALB review strategy to make sure public bodies are efficient, effective and accountable.   Tailored Reviews There is a requirement for UK government departments to carry out a review and challenge of all ALBs at least once in the lifetime of a Parliament (once every five years). The two principal aims of the Tailored Reviews are:

• to provide a robust challenge to and assurance on the continuing need for individual organisations – both their function and form;
• where it is agreed that an organisation should be retained, the Tailored Review will review:

• its capacity for delivering more effectively and efficiently, including identifying the potential for efficiency savings, and where appropriate, its ability to contribute to economic growth. Where appropriate, the review will include an assessment of the performance of the organisation or assurance that processes are in place for such assessments.
• the control and governance arrangements in place to make sure that the organisation and its sponsor are complying with recognised principles of good corporate governance. These principles will vary according to the organisation under review.

  About the LSB & the OLC The role of the Legal Services Board (LSB) is to oversee the regulators of the legal services sector and, in carrying out its functions, it must promote the regulatory objectives as described in Part 1 of the Legal Services Act (LSA) 2007. Its mandate is to ensure that regulation in the legal services sector is carried out in the public interest; and that the interests of consumers are at the heart of the regulatory system. The LSB is operationally independent of the government and funded by a levy on the legal profession. Part 6 of the LSA provides for the establishment of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) which administers an independent complaints handling scheme known as the Legal Ombudsman. The OLC is also bound by the regulatory objectives set out in section 1 of the LSA and is similarly funded by a levy on the legal profession.   Call for Evidence The call for evidence seeks views on the requirement of the functions performed by both the LSB and the OLC, how well services are delivered, and if there is scope for services to be improved. It also seeks views on whether the Legal Services Consumer Panel is sufficiently independent of the LSB and the effectiveness of the tripartite relationship between the LSB, OLC and MoJ. We welcome views from people and organisations that have involvement with, or interest in, the LSB and OLC. Evidence should be submitted via Citizen Space, our online consultation tool at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/tailored-reviews-of-lsb-and-olc   The call for evidence is open until Thursday 24^th November 2016.   The review is expected to take four months and the final report will be published on the gov.uk website.