Lord Chief Justice issues judicial diversity figures for England & Wales

Updated judicial diversity figures for England & Wales have been published along with the first progress report of the Judicial Diversity Committee of the Judges’ Council.

They show that the overall percentage of female judges in courts has increased this year from 25% to 28%, and remaining stable at the "more impressive" figure, in the words of the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, of 45% in tribunals.

Lord Thomas described the increase as "encouraging", but was "disappointed" that there had been no improvement in either courts or tribunals in the total percentage of judges from a Black Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background (5% in courts and 9% in tribunals). "This is an area of concern and one where the committee will be considering what more needs to be done", he commented.

He did note that among judges under 40, 53% of those in courts and 64% of those on tribunals are now women. The percentage of BAME judges under 50 years of age has increased from 12% to 16%.

In the higher courts, as at April 2016 the number of woman Court of Appeal judges remains the same as last year at eight out of 39 (21%); in the High Court 22 out of 106 High Court Judges are women (21%), up by one on the previous year.

The number of female circuit judges increased from 146 in April 2015 to 160 in April 2016 (from 23 to 26%).

A third (34%, compared with 36% in 2015) of court judges and two thirds (65%, compared with 67% in 2015) of tribunal judges are from non-barrister backgrounds.

Lord Thomas commented: "The judiciary must be truly open to everyone of the requisite ability and we are hopeful that the variety of initiatives being actively pursued – led by the Judicial Diversity Committee of the Judges’ Council – will bring more diversity to the judiciary, more quickly."

In Scotland, following recent appointments, 10 out of 34 Senators of the College of Justice, and 27 out of 125 permanent sheriffs, are women. There are a number of BAME sheriffs but as yet no Senators.

Click here to view the report for England & Wales.