Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many practising female judges there are in England and Wales.

Statistics on the diversity of judicial office holders are published annually, alongside statistics on members of the legal professions and those applying for judicial appointments. The 2021 ‘Diversity of the Judiciary’ statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/diversity-of-the-judiciary-2021-statistics) record that as at 1 April 2021, in England and Wales there were:

• 1,119 female court judges – 34% of total.
• 870 female tribunal judges – 49% of the total (this includes judges of the UK tribunals, some of whom may sit mainly in Scotland or Northern Ireland).
• 1,989 total female judges (39%).

We recognise that more progress is required to achieve a gender-balanced judiciary. The Lord Chancellor is a member of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF) and works closely with the Lord Chief Justice, Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and other members of the JDF, including the three relevant legal professional bodies, to address barriers to achieving greater gender balance in the judiciary. In December 2021, JDF members published their updated action plan, which sets out actions to support greater diversity in the judiciary at every stage; from the legal profession to the judiciary itself.