Lay Magistrates

Baroness Berridge Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

I remind the noble Lord that the unreasonably low retirement age of 70 applies also to justices of the Supreme Court.

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that 10% of magistrates are from a black and minority ethnic background, but can my noble and learned friend the Minister outline whether there is a specific recruitment drive that also addresses the need for young people from those communities? When black and minority ethnic young people come before a youth justice panel, it is very important that it is representative of their communities in a way that unfortunately the police force that arrested them might not have been.

[Lord Keen of Elie]

It is of course important that the magistrates’ Bench should be representative of the communities they serve, but it is equally important that we have regard to the skills, experience and talent required of those who sit on it. That tends to come with age and experience.