The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has launched a monitoring scheme which will oversee chambers' compliance with the profession's regulatory regime.

The scheme, which was launched by the regulatory body today (18 October), will require more than 700 chambers and sole practitioners to complete a compulsory online questionnaire.

The questionnaire will focus on four key areas of regulation – complaints handling, pupillage, equality and diversity, and money laundering.

Chambers will be notified of the outcome within one month of submitting the questionnaire after the results have been analysed. Where non-compliance is identified, the BSB will contact chambers to discuss follow-up action to address the issue.

If remedial action is not taken or there are serious concerns about the compliance of a particular set of chambers, disciplinary action can then be taken.

The news follows a successful pilot scheme that took place in 2008 in conjunction with a number of sets and the BSB, assisted by professional services firm BDO.

BSB chairman Baroness Ruth Deech commented: "We take our responsibility as regulators seriously. Our new monitoring process will ensure that chambers and sole practitioners are aware of what is expected of them and will encourage them to meet these standards."

She added: "The scheme also enables us to gather compliance data from all chambers to ensure that regulatory action is targeted in the right areas, whilst highlighting best practice and those achieving excellence. We are not looking to point the finger, but to assist all chambers to meet the requirements."