HC Deb 20 April 2000 vol 348 cc631-2W
Mr. Cox

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many Queen's Counsel are from ethnic minority communities, broken down between(a) men and (b) women. [120082]

Mr. Lock

The information is not available in the form requested.

Before 1989, applicants for appointment as Queen's Counsel were not invited to declare their ethnic origin. Since that year, applicants have been invited to declare their ethnic origin, but they are not obliged to do so. There is, therefore, no definitive record of the number of Queen's Counsel of ethnic minority origin.

Sine 1989 (and including this year), 22 applicants who chose to declare an ethnic minority origin have been appointed as Queen's Counsel; of these, 19 are men and 3 are women.

Mr. Dismore

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many of the Queen's Counsel to be appointed on Maundy Thursday are(a) women, (b) from ethnic minority backgrounds, (c) solicitors and (d) (i) below the age of 45 and (ii) above the age of 60 years; and what was the (A) highest, (B) lowest, (C) average and (D) mean declared fee income of (x) successful and (y) unsuccessful candidates. [119819]

Mr. Lock

The Lord Chancellor's Department's press notice number 134/00, issued for publication on Maundy Thursday, announces the names of those to be appointed Queen's Counsel on Wednesday 3 May, and I refer my hon. Friend to that notice.

That press notice includes, as it has in previous years, statistical information on the numbers of female, ethnic minority and solicitor applicants and successful applicants. Following a recommendation in Sir Leonard Peach's report into the appointment processes of judges and Queen's Counsel, it also includes for the first time a table indicating the averages and quartile distributions of the average declared fees for all applicants, unsuccessful applicants and successful applicants.

The additional information requested by my hon. Friend is that 41 of the successful applicants are under 45; and none is over 60 years of age.