Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates there are in each local authority area; what the gender and ethnic composition is of magistrates in each such area; and what recruitment of magistrates there has been in each such area in the last five years.

Each magistrate in England and Wales is assigned to a local justice area. I have therefore interpreted the reference to ‘local authority area’ in the question to mean local justice area.

Table 1 provides the number of magistrates in each local justice area along with their gender and ethnic breakdown.

The number of magistrates recruited in each local justice area is dictated by the business needs of the magistrates’ courts. Due in part to falling crime levels, the workload of the magistrates’ court has reduced in recent years. Table 2 provides the number of magistrates recruited in each local justice area in the last five years.