Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress the Government has made on increasing the number of BAME members of the judiciary since 2017.

The Government has published annual statistics on judicial diversity covering both judges and magistrates since 2020: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/diversity-of-the-judiciary-2022-statistics. Prior to 2020, judicial diversity statistics were published by the Judiciary: www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/diversity/judicial-diversity-statistics/.

Since 2017, the proportion of judges from an ethnic minority has grown from 8% to 10%. 14% of new judges appointed in 2021/22 were from ethnic minority groups. The proportion of magistrates from an ethnic minority has also grown over the same period: from 11% to 14%. 15% of new magistrates appointed in 2021/22 were from ethnic minority groups.

The government recognises there is more to do and the Ministry of Justice, as a member of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF), works closely with the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission and the legal professions to take actions to increase judicial diversity. MoJ’s actions include funding judicial education and support programmes for lawyers from groups under-represented in the judiciary.

The Government has invested over £1 million to support the recruitment of new and diverse magistrates, the Government’s top priority for the magistracy. A new digitised recruitment process alongside an inclusive marketing campaign was launched in January 2022 as part of this programme of work, targeting underrepresented groups to ensure the magistracy is reflective of the communities it serves. A new Applicant Tracking System (ATS) was also introduced, allowing the MoJ to monitor the diversity of applicants which will help inform future recruitment activity.