To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what guidance has been issued to the Legal Complaints Service on the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 to those of its staff who are transferring to the Office for Legal Complaints; (313404)

The Office for Legal Complaints will administer the Legal Ombudsman Scheme which will provide a single point of entry with consistent handling of all consumer complaints about providers of regulated legal services. This will replace the existing complaints handling regime with a new system and therefore the operation of the Legal Complaints Service will not transfer to the Office for Legal Complaints.

To date no decisions have been made to transfer staff. The Law Society has commenced legal proceedings to seek clarification on the application of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. The decision of the court will be a matter of public record.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff work at the Office for Legal Complaints; and what the job description is for each post held by such staff. (313406)

At present the OLC has four permanent members of staff one of whom is Adam Sampson who formally took up post as Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive on 1 July 2009. The roles of the other three permanent employees are Head of External Affairs, Board Secretary and Head of Human Resources. In addition, the OLC has two employees on fixed term contracts: the interim Chief Operation Officer and an administrator. This team is supported by nine agency staff employed on an interim basis.

Job descriptions for each post have been placed in the House Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse has been of establishing the Office for Legal Complaints; and whether he expects further such costs to be incurred. (313407)

The budgeted cost of establishing the Office for Legal Complaints is £15.1 million. To date £7 million has been expended or committed. However, the costs of establishing the Office for Legal Complaints will be recouped through a levy on the legal professions, and therefore, ultimately, there will be no cost to the public purse.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects the Office for Legal Complaints to begin to accept complaint cases for consideration. (313408)

I am pleased to say that the Office for Legal Complaints is on course to accept complaint cases for consideration under its Legal Ombudsman scheme by late 2010.