Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of former magistrates who will be entitled to re-enter the judiciary as a result of the change to magistrates' retirement age in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England and Wales.

When the new mandatory retirement age (MRA) comes into force, there will be a transitional provision to enable retired magistrates to apply to return to the bench, subject to business need. We are currently updating our modelling to ascertain the impact of an increase to 75 on the supply of magistrates (both regionally and nationally) and on our recruitment requirements for 2021/22 and beyond.

Judicial office holders who are in office when the new mandatory retirement age comes into force will be able to continue sitting until 75. Judges below the High Court are already able to have their appointments extended, on an annual basis, up to the age of 75, where there is a business need. In addition, salaried judges can also be authorised to sit in retirement on an ad hoc basis up to the age of 75. We therefore do not intend to provide for transitional arrangements to allow for the reappointment of judges who have retired but are younger than the new MRA.