Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason recruitment, retention and promotion targets are not used in the judiciary.

Judges are selected following a rigorous, independent and merit-based process which is key to maintaining the quality, integrity and independence of our judiciary.

The Judicial Appointments Commission is asked by the Lord Chancellor to deliver a specified programme of judicial recruitment each year and reports against this in its annual report. The Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committees are also asked to recruit a specified number of magistrates each year.

We do not consider that diversity targets on recruitment, retention or promotion are the right approach. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice and the Judicial Appointments Commission have statutory duties to improve judicial diversity and through the Judicial Diversity Forum, are delivering a wide range of actions to improve judicial diversity.