Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women are better represented in the UK judicial system.

In recent years, there has been progress in achieving greater representation of women in the judicial system and women now make up 29% of judges in the courts in England & Wales, 46% in UK tribunals and 55% of magistrates in England & Wales. Diversity in the judiciary remains a complex picture and there is more to be done. The Ministry of Justice is committed to working with the Lord Chief Justice and Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission to consider all practical actions that would impact positively on diversity, assess the impact of our existing activities and measure progress. In April 2018, MoJ announced funding for the pre-application judicial education programme (PAJE). This is a Judicial Diversity Forum initiative, to support and encourage lawyers interested in a judicial career and will target lawyers from underrepresented groups to apply for judicial office: women, BAME, lawyers with disabilities and those from a non-barrister professional background (including solicitors and Chartered Legal Executives).