The Judicial Diversity Forum statistics for 2021, published last week, showed just one per cent of the judiciary is Black―a figure that hasn’t shifted since 2014, despite an increasingly diverse pool of applicants.
In that same period, the number of Asian judges has risen from three per cent to five per cent, and for mixed ethnicity judges from one to two per cent.
In 2018-21, Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates accounted for 23% of applicants but only 12% of recommendations―a lower rate than that for White candidates.
Half of all tribunal judges are women, but only 34% of court judges are women (an increase from 24% in 2014), and the number drops to 29% for the High Court and above.
While the first full-time CILEX judge took office last month, non-barristers make up only 32% of court judges and 64% of tribunal judges.
Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, said there was ‘clearly still work to be done’.
Derek Sweeting QC, Chair of the Bar Council, said: ‘We need to understand why, when ethnic minority barrister candidates of Black and Asian backgrounds are disproportionately more likely to apply for judicial appointment, they remain consistently less successful than their white counterparts.
‘Until we understand whether there is problem in the appointment process, or whether the issue is experience―or both―we are operating in the dark. These statistics show that more work needs to be done to improve diversity in the judiciary, not only in relation to gender and ethnicity. More data (and work) is also required on other protected characteristics and socio-economic backgrounds if we are to change.’
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘This report has laid bare the need for urgent steps and we now need to determine as a matter of priority what those steps should be.’
CILEX Chair Professor Chris Bones called for judicial eligibility criteria to be opened up to CILEX Lawyers who last year were able to apply for only four out of 24 judicial selection exercises.
