Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published 28 July 2021, what progress his Department has made on using £1 million of funding by spring 2022 to recruit more disabled magistrates in England and Wales as part of a wider effort to improve diversity.

The Government is investing over £1 million to support the recruitment of new and diverse magistrates from under-represented groups such as those with disabilities. On 17 January 2022, in partnership with the judiciary, we introduced a revised, streamlined recruitment process.

The new process has been carefully designed with occupational psychologists in line with current best practice to ensure it is fair, more inclusive and more accessible to all candidates whilst remaining challenging and robust to identify the best applicants.

Online applications replace the previous paper-based form, with the website reaching the highest accessibility standards and adaptable to candidate’s needs. As now, applicants will be asked to indicate on their application form if they require any reasonable adjustments, and will be contacted directly to find out how they can be supported through the process. The updated interview includes a mixture of behavioural and situational questions, and no longer includes case study exercises, as similar exercises have been shown to negatively impact individuals with certain protected characteristics.

We will also launch an inclusive national marketing campaign next week designed to encourage more applications from a broader range of people. Importantly, the improved data we will collect via the new digital applicant tracking system will help us to better monitor the diversity of applicants and appointments, including disability, and identify opportunities for further improvements.