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There is a basic failure on the LSB's part to comprehend that we are not selling cans of beans, so any "transparency" would need to be so heavily caveat-laden as to be of no use to the client and nothing but a further hindrance to providing a cost-effective service.

Anyway, even if we indulge the metaphor and accept for a moment we are selling cans of beans, at least a buyer knows what to expect from a can of beans. Thanks to food and trading standards regulations, a person manufacturing and selling beans has to say how many beans are in the tin and actually put beans in it that are safe to eat. You can buy beans for 10p or £2.50 and everywhere in between. Most people understand they will get better beans if they pay a bit more, but the 10p beans won't incur an unexpected tax charge or lose them their house.

The system now developing in law mandates anyone trained and qualified to make beans to become fellows of the society of master beanbakers, who must count the beans and actually put beans in the tin and be insured if their beans cause any harm. The master beanbakers must give a price for a can of beans, but has no say over what size the can may be - that is decided by the buyer. The Beans Ombusman can make the master beanbakers pay over many more beans if any of this is got wrong.

Those not qualified can also sell beans, but they do not have to be competent to bake beans, do not need to weigh the beans, or indeed put beans in the tin at all. Ball bearings in tomato sauce are fine, they're sort of bean-shaped. They can market 10p beans when the cheapest that are really available cost £3.50, that's fine. The packaging is the same as the master beanbakers' products, so the punter won't realise. It is called "access to beans".

In other words, even if we were selling beans, the system being developed is no more fit for that purpose than for legal services.