Judiciary: Ethnic Groups

(asked on 19th February 2018) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of judicial selection panels included at least one Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic member in 2016.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 12th March 2018

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is the executive non‑departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, which selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends across the UK, up to and including the High Court and Upper Tribunal.

JAC’s selection panels for selections up to and including the High Court and Upper Tribunal, usually consist of a lay panel chair, an independent lay member and a judicial member (nominated by the judiciary). Of those who declared diversity information, 62% of JAC lay panellists are female and 8% are from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (‘BAME’) background.

People making nominations to the selection panels for senior posts and the UK Supreme Court must have regard (alongside other relevant considerations) to the fact that it is desirable that the panel should include both women and men and members drawn from a range of different racial groups (as defined by the Equality Act 2010)

I also refer to my honourable friend to my answer to PQ 128124, in which she asked the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to increase judicial diversity.

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