§ 41. Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on plans to promote ethnic diversity on the Bench. [25056]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Lord Chancellor appoints to judicial office exclusively on merit. The number of people from ethnic minorities holding judicial office substantially reflects the number of ethnic minority practitioners in the legal profession with the appropriate period of experience, which is usually not less than 20 years.
The Lord Chancellor has already introduced a number of initiatives to encourage greater numbers to apply for judicial office and to secure equality of opportunity in the appointments process. For example, he has made information about the appointments procedures widely available, particularly through his website and the publication of the Judicial Appointments Annual Report; he applies the procedures flexibly in relation to age and sitting arrangements; he has introduced a work shadowing scheme which has proved to be very successful; he has reviewed the detailed criteria for appointment against which assessments of suitability are made; he is piloting a scheme to encourage applications from those who may think that their career progress to date understates their 173W judicial potential; and has appointed a Commissioner for Judicial Appointments to audit and make recommendations about the appointments procedures and handle complaints.
Preparatory work for a pilot assessment centre is under way with a view to running the pilot later this year. A video about the appointments process will be produced soon. These efforts will continue and be developed with a view to increasing the numbers from ethnic minorities who apply for and are appointed to judicial office.