§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what action he is taking to ensure more people from ethnic minorities in Bradford are appointed to all tribunals under the independent tribunal service; if he will give the present composition of all tribunals serving Bradford; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. TaylorTo encourage more ethnic minority practitioners to come forward for consideration, the Lord Chancellor has made widely available to ethnic minority practitioners and representative groups the booklet which sets out the requirements for each appointment and describes the judicial appointments system generally.
The Lord Chancellor's policy is to appoint to judicial office those best qualified, regardless of sex, ethnic origin, political affiliation or religion and appointments must be justified on merit. The Lord Chancellor appoints only the legal chairmen of the tribunals under the independent tribunal service.
Information held on the ethnic origin of 36 members of the social security appeal tribunal in Bradford shows that three out of the 36 are from ethnic minorities. Of the 69 members of the panel for the disability appeal tribunal covering Bradford six are of ethnic origin.