My right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Jack Straw) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:

The Legal Services Act received Royal Assent on 30 October 2007. Two of the key elements of the Act are the provision of a Legal Services Board (LSB) and the establishment of an Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). The LSB will be an over-arching regulator and the OLC will deal with all complaints about regulated legal service providers.

I am pleased to announce that, in consultation with the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, I have appointed David Edmonds to the position of chair of the LSB. Mr Edmonds will take up post from 1 May 2008. The appointment will run for three years.

Mr Edmonds is currently non-executive chairman of NHS Direct and a legal services commissioner. He has previously been Director-General of Telecommunications (Oftel), managing director of group central services at the Natwest Group, and chief executive of the Housing Corporation.