§ 29. Mr. CorbynTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to increase the number of magistrates from ethnic minority communities. [394]
§ Mr. HoonIn making their recommendations, the Lord Chancellor's advisory committees have regard to the need to ensure that the composition of the bench broadly reflects the area that it serves in terms of age, gender, 373 place of residence, politics, occupation and ethnic origin. To that end, a survey of the ethnic origin of serving magistrates is being undertaken. The Lord Chancellor will decide, in the light of its results—which will be made available in the autumn—what further initiatives may be necessary, both nationally and locally.
§ Mr. CorbynI thank the Minister for his reply and congratulate him on his appointment. When the survey is finally published, will he consider carefully the possibility of establishing a national policy and guidelines to ensure that magistrates panels contain sufficient numbers of persons from ethnic minorities? If necessary, will he give the Lord Chancellor's Department powers to override the local nomination committees to ensure that those national guidelines are adhered to? I am sure that he would agree with me that it is unacceptable for magistrates benches in some areas to be totally unrepresentative of the communities that they judge.
§ Mr. HoonOnce again, I am grateful for the good wishes. The Lord Chancellor's local advisory committees already undertake a range of recruitment initiatives, including advertising in the ethnic minority press, distributing leaflets and posters and contacting ethnic community organisations. In addition, the Lord Chancellor's Department each year funds advertisements in the national ethnic minority press. As my hon. Friend recognises, it is clearly important for the Lord Chancellor's Department to continue to fund initiatives locally to attract candidates from the ethnic minority community. We shall press to ensure that those efforts are redoubled.
Mr. John M. TaylorIn the course of his duties, will the Minister be good enough to put a note in the Library about the progress that has been made so far with the amalgamation of magistrates courts committee areas? Many of us in the west midlands are watching the position with some anxiety.