Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase diversity among the judiciary in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice, as a member of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF), works closely with the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Legal Services Board and the legal professions to take actions to increase judicial diversity.

In the Judicial Diversity Forum’s update to its plan and priorities for 2021/22, published on 20 December 2021 (https://judicialappointments.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/JDF-2022-action-plan.pdf), the MoJ committed to the following as part of the JDF’s actions to support a diversity of professionals to see a judicial career as an attractive option and to ensure they are supported and encouraged to apply to the judiciary:

• Continuing to fund the Pre-Application Judicial Education (PAJE) programme, to support potential candidates from under-represented groups to the judiciary.
• Continuing to fund the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) led Targeted Outreach Programme, to support a diversity of candidates towards more senior judicial roles.
• Exploring fuller opportunities for Solicitors and Chartered Legal Executives to gain court experience, including advocacy, to support preparation for the judiciary.
• Working with the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX), and other legal professional bodies, to explore the necessary steps for increasing CILEX’s eligibility for a wider range of judicial roles.
• Supporting the publication of data across the legal professions, judicial appointments and judiciary through the annual Diversity of the Judiciary report.

The MoJ has also invested over £1 million to support the recruitment of new and diverse magistrates in order to increase the diversity of the magistracy. A new digitised recruitment process alongside an inclusive marketing campaign was launched in January 2022 to target underrepresented groups and ensure the magistracy is reflective of the communities it serves.