§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made with the pilot project for sight-impaired people acting as Justices of the Peace. [H158]
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg)I am pleased to announce that the pilot project assessing the feasibility of sight-impaired people acting as magistrates has been completed. It has been a great success. Nine sight-impaired people were recruited as Justices of the Peace to the Commission areas of Leicestershire, Devon, North East London, Wiltshire, Humberside and Manchester. Each was appointed after having met the normal selection criteria and completed the training. The responses from those who have worked with the sight-impaired magistrates have shown that each one of them has made a positive and valuable contribution to the work of their Bench. I am therefore removing, forthwith, the bar to appointment of sight-impaired applicants as Justices of the Peace.