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<p>The Government is committed to improving judicial diversity and co-ordinates this
effort through the Judicial Diversity Forum, a cross-stakeholder group with representatives
from the Ministry of Justice, Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), the judiciary
and legal profession.</p><p> </p><p>The Judicial Diversity Forum replaced the Judicial
Diversity Taskforce in 2014 as the body responsible for encouraging judicial diversity;
it has implemented a number of schemes to help improve judicial diversity. Recent
examples include the 100 plus Diversity and Community Relations Judges doing invaluable
work with the community to expel myths about working for the judiciary and interact
with schools, universities and the legal professions. There is also a Judicial Mentoring
Scheme where judges volunteer to be mentors; providing invaluable advice and guidance
to those from under-represented groups seeking a judicial appointment or those wishing
to progress in their judicial career.</p><p> </p><p>Data on judicial appointments
are published regularly on gov.uk. The below figures show how many candidates were
recommended by the JAC for judicial appointment in each of the past six years and
how many of those were (1) from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, (2)
women and (3) disabled. As these figures are JAC recommendations, they may include
a small number of candidates that do not go on to be appointed.</p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>2010</strong>-
759 candidates were recommended out of which 75 (10%) were from BAME, 309 (41%) were
women and 41 (5%) were disabled.</li><li><strong>2011</strong>- 894 candidates were
recommended out of which 91 (10%) were from BAME backgrounds, 406 (45%) were women
and 34 (4%) were disabled.</li><li><strong>2012</strong>- 371 candidates were recommended
out of which 48 (13%) were from BAME backgrounds, 152 (41%) were women and 22 (6%)
were disabled.</li><li><strong>2013</strong>- 572 candidates were recommended out
of which 38 (7%) were from BAME backgrounds, 303 (53%) were women and 81 (14%) were
disabled.</li><li><strong>2014</strong>- 312 candidates were recommended out of which
40 (13%) were from BAME backgrounds, 134 (43%) were women and 11 (4%) were disabled.</li><li><strong>2015</strong>-
319 candidates were recommended out of which 28 (9%) were from BAME backgrounds, 143
(45%) were women and 10 (3%) were disabled.</li></ul><p>The Government acknowledges
that within the judiciary there is an under-representation of women, those who are
disabled and those from a BAME background. However, recent statistics show some improvement
which suggests ongoing diversity initiatives, co-ordinated by the Forum, are beginning
to have an impact:</p><p> </p><p>1) 12% of judges across Courts and Tribunals under
50 years of age are from a BAME background (around 14% of the UK population are from
BAME groups).</p><p>2) JAC Official Statistics from April 2015 to March 2016 showed
women made up 45% of those recommended for appointment overall (140 of 308 recommendations).</p>
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