§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department how many social security commissioners are(a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities, (c) solicitors or former solicitors and (d) banisters or former barristers; what is the total number of commissioners; and if he will make a statement. [79792]
§ Mr. HoonThere are a total of 46 Social Security Commissioners in post. The breakdown is as follows: 12 are female and 34 are male; 26 are barristers (or former barristers); 16 are solicitors (or former solicitors); and the remaining 4 are neither barristers nor solicitors. So far as an ethnic breakdown is concerned, to enable the Lord Chancellor to monitor the effectiveness of policies designed to attract more members of the ethnic community to apply for judicial appointment, candidates are requested to indicate their ethnic origin on their application. This is a recent introduction to the appointment process and candidates are not compelled to answer. Therefore, from records currently held I cannot provide an ethnic breakdown. I do not propose to make a statement.