HC Deb 31 March 1999 vol 328 cc768-9W
Mr. Vaz

To ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will provide a breakdown by ethnic origin and grade of (1) the judiciary, (2) members of tribunals and (3) the magistracy. [79049]

Mr. Hoon

The available information is as follows: (1) The Judiciary: the figures for the ethnic origin of judges are believed to be correct, but as the ethnic origin of candidates for judicial office was not sought before October 1991, the data may be incomplete. (see table).

2. Tribunals: this information is only available for the Employment Tribunal and Social Security Appeals Tribunal where it has been collected on the same basis as for the judiciary since October 1991. It is set out below. Information in respect of other tribunals has only been collected on a consistent basis since 1998. (see table).

Table 1. The Judiciary Judges of ethnic minority origin as at 1 March 1999
Post Black Asian Other non white Total % Ethnic minorities
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary 12
Lords Justices of Appeal 35
High Court Judges 98
Circuit Judges 3 2 562 0.9
Recorders 5 4 4 879 1.5
Assistant Recorders 5 5 4 385 3.6
District Judges 2 7 3 741 1.6
Stipendiary Magistrates 2 93 2.2
Acting Stipendiary Magistrates 2 2 96 4.2

Note

The statics have only been recorded since October 1991

Table 2. Tribunals Employment Tribunal and Social Security Appeals Tribunal Chairmen of ethnic minority origin as at 1 March 1999
Post Black Asian Other non white Total % ethnic minorities
Chairman of Employment Tribunals (full time) 1 3 84 4.8
Chairman of Employment Tribunals (part time) 2 1 1 205 2.0
Full time Chairman of Social Security Appeals Tribunals 1 1 54 3.7
Part time Chairman of Social Security Appeals Tribunals 4 6 1 532 2.1

Note:

The statistics have only been recorded since October 1991

Table 3. Magistrates in post at May 1997 Lay Magistrates (excluding the Duchy of Lancaster): Analysis of the Public Appointments and Equal Opportunities Survey— as at 12 May 1997
Post Black Asian Other non white Total % ethnic minority
Magistrates in post as at May 1997 374 465 187 23,461 4.4

Note:

There were 25,124 Lay Magistrates in post (excluding the Duchy of Lancaster at May1997.1,663 did not return their questionnaire

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