§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department how many(a) full-time and (b) part-time chairmen of employment tribunals are (i) women, (ii) from ethnic minorities, (iii) solicitors or former solicitors and (iv) banisters or former banisters; and what is the total number of (1) full-time and (2) part-time chairmen in post. [79784]
§ Mr. HoonThere are a total of 84 full-time Chairmen of Employment Tribunals in post. The breakdown is as follows: 71 are male, of which 28 are former banisters and 43 are former solicitors; and 13 are female, of which 6 are former banisters and 7 are former solicitors. There are a total of 204 part-time Chairmen of Employment Tribunals in post. The breakdown is as follows: 170 are male, of which 47 are barristers (or former banisters) and 33W 123 are solicitors (or former solicitors); and 33 are female, of which 9 are barristers (or former banisters) and 24 are solicitors (or former 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, full and detailed records are not available. However, from records that are available, I can indicate that, of the 84 full-time Chairmen, one is Asian, 29 are White and three are West Indian. Of the 204 part-time Chairmen, 22 are White and three are West Indian.