Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposals put forward by the Senior President of Tribunals that employment cases be heard by a single judge by default on the judicial diversity of Employment Tribunals.

The Senior President of Tribunals (SPT) will become responsible for the future arrangements for panel composition once the provisions of the Judicial Review and Courts Act (2022) are brought into effect. We intend to enact this delegation of powers later this year. Following this, any decisions made on the matter of panel composition will be informed by the consultation published earlier in the year, in which views on his proposals were sought.

As such, the final proposals on Employment Tribunal panel composition will be a matter for the Senior President of Tribunals. We understand that the SPT intends to publish a response to the consultation in due course, once the measures have been brought into effect. Judicial diversity is a key priority for the Ministry of Justice. As a member of the Judicial Diversity Forum, we work closely with the judiciary, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Legal Services Board and the legal professions to promote diversity in the judiciary across each jurisdiction.