Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to implement the findings of the Lammy Review in the judicial appointments’ system.

The Ministry of Justice has published regular updates on the actions the department has taken in response to the Lammy Review recommendations.

The Lord Chancellor, alongside other members of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF), including the Lord Chief Justice, Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Chairs and Chief Executives of the legal professional bodies are leading a wide range of actions to improve diversity, which were set out in the JDF’s action plan published in September 2020.

This includes an expanded Pre-Application Judicial Education (PAJE) programme, which supports lawyers from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background in pursuing a judicial career; the work of the JAC’s Targeted Outreach and Research Team, who are actively engaging with and providing guidance and advice to potential candidates from under-represented groups including those from a BAME background for specific court and tribunal roles; the application of an equal merit policy in JAC selection exercises; and a range of judicial outreach programmes. Coupled with this, end to end data on diversity across the legal professions and the judiciary has been brought together and published, and a range of research commissioned to inform actions to improve judicial diversity.

For the magistracy, the department is investing c.£1m to improve the magistrates’ recruitment process and the diversity of magistrates’ recruitment through targeted marketing and attraction activities.