Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the SLCC’s draft Regulatory Statement. We welcome the SLCC setting out, at an early stage, how it interprets the regulatory objectives in relation to its own powers and functions and how it will exercise its regulatory functions in a way which is compatible with them. We support the SLCC’s commitment to empowering consumers, providing them with clear and accessible support and advice, collaborating with others and learning from experience.
Consumer Scotland is a current member of the Independent Panel and we look forward to working with the SLCC as part of the process of implementing the Act. We agree with the response of the Panel to this consultation and offer a small number of additional, detailed comments below:
In relation to Objective 1, we welcome the inclusion of access to justice as part of this objective along with the recognition of the need for transparent, accessible and fair processes. We would also welcome the addition of a reference to the need for processes to be timely, in order to meet consumer needs. This could feasibly be referenced under either Objective 1 or 2.
We welcome the reference to the Consumer Duty in Objective 2, along with the need to support the work of the Consumer Panel. We support the commitment to “have regard to the impact of our strategic decisions on consumers, with the aim of reducing harm” but consider that the words “or putting in place measures to mitigate that harm” could be added to the sentence. This may be particularly relevant to considering the SLCC’s approach to unregulated legal services or to new methods of provision that may develop as a wider range of providers enter the market.
In relation to Objective 3, we support consideration of trends in access to legal services, but consider it may also be useful to supplement this with consideration of how these trends are reflected in complaints data and whether there are groups of legal service users who may be under represented in complaints data.