§ Mr. VazTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many Queen's Counsel there are; and how many are(a) women, (b) black and (c) Asian.
Mr. John M. TaylorOn 1 October 1993 there were 797 Queen's Counsel in private practice, of whom 41 were women. The ethnic origin of applicants for the office of Queen's Counsel was not recorded prior to the autumn of 1991, and the formal records in respect of ethnic origin are therefore incomplete. I believe that on 1 October 1993 there were three black and five Asian Queen's Counsel.