Speeches by Munt.

“Good afternoon. My name is Tessa Munt. I am the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills. I am also a director and a vice-chair of WhistleblowersUK, which is a not-for-profit organisation, and vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on penal affairs.”

“But that was clearly a four-year period of utter mayhem for everybody.”

“Are there any other areas of your remit where you fear you might find yourselves in the same situation going forward?”

“What had been issued by your organisation in relation to this before the High Court judgment, and what had been issued between the High Court judgment and the Court of Appeal judgment? Because we are all over the place on this, aren’t we?”

“So you are asking them to regulate themselves. Where is your place in this? What have you spotted that you feel should be dealt with?”

“Who takes precedence? Who is right?”

“What levers do you have to make up that 12%?”

“I have to say, I have some sympathy with Sir Ashley’s view; you are not able to flex that muscle to make changes. It is surprising to find out that 12% of firms are clearly not complying. That is a difficulty. Your organisation has stated that it is not opposed to reforming the Legal Services Act 2007, and that any fut…”

“My constituent Michael is autistic and actively psychotic, and he has a confirmed lack of capacity. His parents have power of attorney. His chronic medical problems include cysts deep in his chest that could burst at any time, bowel disease, myopathy and sleep apnoea. His family contacts me with increasing distress as …”

“Will you explain the functions of the Legal Services Board—both those it performs and the responsibilities that the Chair has?”

“Good morning. My name is Tessa Munt. I am the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills in Somerset. I am the one who is not a lawyer. Everything is in my declarations in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, but I will just say that I am vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on penal affairs, a…”

“Richard Orpin was appointed as chief executive of the Legal Services Board in January, having served as its interim chief executive and director of regulation and policy since 2023. How do you anticipate dividing the responsibilities between yourself and Richard Orpin?”

“Thank you. Just for the record, I am surprised that no one from the Legal Services Board was involved in the interview process.”

“Are there any other skills, experience or knowledge that you bring? As you mentioned, you were a media professional, effectively, and you had an interest in the creative industries and in education. Is there anything there that you think will add to your ability to function as Chair of this organisation?”

“They would have an idea.”

“Bearing in mind that there has been criticism of the light-touch approach to assessment—the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority were found to have “failed to demonstrate that they met the required standards in important areas”—did you raise those questions during your interviews? In your situati…”

“I do not want to sound rude, but may I ask what skills and experiences you have that enable you to execute those functions?”

“As an addendum to that, it has been criticised for having a light touch, hasn’t it? I just wonder what your comments on that might be.”

“Can you explain the approach that you believe the Legal Services Board takes to assessing the performance of regulators? Have you some insight into that?”

“The LSB has a number of responsibilities, which include oversight of the regulators, taking enforcement action and promoting the regulatory objectives, but I believe it has fewer than 50 staff. Are you confident that the organisation can deal with its competing priorities with that number of staff?”