Westminster update: legal services at heart of Industrial Strategy

Law Society celebrates 200 years

On Monday 23 June, our bicentenary celebrations reached London.

We celebrated our profession's rich history, with contributions from the solicitor general and more.

Legal services placed at heart of Industrial Strategy

The government published its Industrial Strategy, setting out its plans to drive growth by supporting eight critical sectors of the UK economy.

Legal services were represented within the professional and business services sector.

As part of the strategy, the government has also published a dedicated plan for professional and business services.

The plan highlights the legal services sector and the role it plays across the economy.

This is the first time legal services have featured so notably in any government’s industrial strategy.

The plan recognises that legal services face barriers to growth, highlighting points we raised in our submission to the strategy.

These include:

• the need for technology and AI training
• support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with tech adoption
• challenges to business mobility restriction
• investment in the physical courts
• support with court backlogs

In the strategy, the government also extended the LawtechUK programme for another year, focusing on tech adoption among SME law firms.

To enhance the global appeal of English and Welsh law, the government notes reforms like the Arbitration Act and Digital Assets Bill and pledges continued legislative reforms.

The GREAT Legal Services campaign will also be used to further promote the UK as a premier jurisdiction for international legal matters while showcasing its lawtech strengths.

A significant part of the strategy focuses on skills shortages in the sector.

The government points to funding being maintained for level 7 apprenticeships and its plans to map skills gaps in key sectors as part of its response.

Finally, five new Professional and Business Services hubs – in Liverpool, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands and the Edinburgh-Glasgow Central Belt – will drive regional innovation, digital adoption, and social mobility.

The strategy will run for 10 years.

We look forward to working closely with the government to drive growth in legal services in line with the strategy.

Trade Strategy centres services sector

On 26 June, the government published its Trade Strategy.

Following from the Industrial Strategy and National Security Strategy, the Trade Strategy set out how Sir Keir Starmer’s government will make the UK the most connected nation in the world while protecting vital industries from global threats and backing businesses.

The strategy is ambitious, accurately assessing the UK's current economic reality and putting the services sector at its core.

Following calls from the Law Society, the strategy highlights that free trade agreements are an important tool to remove market access barriers, but also that they are not the only way to do so.

Our work reducing barriers in Japan through regulator-to-regulator dialogue was praised as an example of how government and business can work together to address non-tariff barriers.

The strategy also launched the Ricardo Fund, which will increase support to UK regulators and overseas trade teams to remove regulatory barriers for UK businesses trading abroad.

This is a welcome development for regulated sectors like legal services.

This is the first Trade Strategy since the UK exited the EU.

It highlights how this government does not believe it has to choose between the US, EU and China to make the most of global opportunities.

While the strategy notes a continued focus on key markets, it also commits to developing a range of trade policy tools, including potentially working out new bilateral digital trading agreements with Brazil, Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia.

The government is also seeking for professional qualification agreements to be recognised with key partners in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Middle East to support professional business service exports.

Overall, this is a very positive strategy, with spending locked due to the spending review.

We look forward to working with the government to secure:

• better market access for our members
• improvements to business mobility
• mutual recognition of professional qualifications

Read more about our response to the Trade Strategy.

Parliamentarians celebrate 21st century justice

The chair of the Justice Select Committee Andy Slaughter MP and chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee Lord Foster attended our event on Tuesday 24 June to celebrate the publication of our 21st century justice final report.

The event was the outcome of a three-year policy and research project as we highlight where digitisation and AI can create a data driven approach to meeting unmet legal needs.

We also investigate international civil legal aid models, such as in the Netherlands, to emphasise where the government can improve effectiveness and cost-efficiency.

Our event, held in Westminster alongside Catherine Atkinson MP, drew a number of MPs and lords from across parliament, including Kevin Bonavia MP, Ian Byrne MP, and member of the Constitution Committee Lord Beith.

We engaged with parliamentarians on our report’s vision for the justice system, providing practical steps for the government to improve.

Legal aid a “vital part of the justice system”

On Wednesday 25 June, MPs discussed justice system funding during estimates day debates.

The debate allowed MPs to dissect government spending following the recent spending review.

Justice Select Committee chair Andy Slaughter (Labour) said of the crisis in legal aid: “In March 2025, the Law Society said that the number of criminal duty solicitors had fallen by 26% since 2017 and that that may, in future, 'leave many individuals unable to access their right to a solicitor and free advice.’”

Slaughter welcomed the Ministry of Justice’s announcement of an additional £92 million per year for criminal legal aid solicitors, but noted his fear that it may not be enough.

Linsey Farnsworth (Labour) further noted that the lack of legal aid solicitors and barristers will only worsen the problems of court backlog through adjournments and delays.

The minister for sentencing Sir Nicholas Dakin stressed the importance of legal aid.

He stating: “legal aid is a vital part of the justice system … It underpins our plans to build a justice system that works fairly for all parties … in January we began consulting over a £20 million uplift to civil legal aid fees for lawyers working in the immigration and asylum and housing and debt sectors.”

The shadow minister for justice, Dr Keiran Mullan, hit back at the government’s early release measures, referencing a similar policy from the last Labour government.

The minister responded that the current measures are necessary to address overcrowding caused by the previous government.

Mental Health Bill: Law Society's concerns raised

On Tuesday 24 June, concerns around racial disparities and safeguards for nasogastric tube feeding were raised as the Mental Health Bill continues its committee stage debates.

Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat) spoke on the Lib Dems’ new clause 1, which examined the government's racial disparity considerations when drafting the Mental Health Bill.

She discussed this with new clause 3, which requires mental health units and services to appoint a responsible person to address racial disparities in functions under the Mental Health Act 1983.

David Burton-Sampson (Labour) replied that “the drivers of disparity here are much deeper than the scope of the bill, and it would be wrong to attempt to wrap up the solution to this issue within it. That does not mean that action should not be taken.”

Minister Stephen Kinnock responded to this clause by explaining that “ultimately, we feel that the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework will be more effective at reducing racial inequalities than the very broad remit outlined in this new clause, and that the addition of a responsible person in legislation is duplicative and unnecessary.”

The clause was therefore withdrawn.

Josh Dean (Labour) raised our concerns around the issue of safeguards for administering nasogastric tube feeding.

Jen Craft (Labour) agreed that the purpose of the new clause is to ensure that the use of restraint is recorded at all times, and to highlight that the restraint may often be carried out not by a medial staff member, but by hospital security for example.

The minister noted practical reasons why the government does not support the new clause as drafted.

He explained that for the majority of mental health patients, this duty duplicates existing duties under the 2018 Act.

While the recording requirement goes further, it does not require for that data to be further used to develop policies or train staff.

The minister argued that as drafted, the new clause would introduce new duties to record and report data without any clear further use of that data.

As a result, this clause was withdrawn.

The bill will now have its report stage on a date to be confirmed.

Coming up

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

• Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will continue its committee stage in the Lords on 8 July
• Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will continue its committee stage in the Lords, which began on 20 May
• Crime and Policing Bill will have its second reading in the Lords on a date to be confirmed
• Employment Rights Bill will continue its committee stage in the Lords, which began on 29 April
• Mental Health Bill will have its report stage in the Commons on a date to be confirmed
• Planning and Infrastructure Bill will begin its committee stage in the Lords on a date to be confirmed
• Renters Rights Bill moves to report stage in the Lords on 1 July
• Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed third reading in the Commons on 20 June and will move to the Lords on a date to be confirmed